To Be A Hero - Colossus and Angel
by FantasyandHistory
Summary: Katharina and Daniela Maximoff, older sisters to 'The Twins' Peter and Wanda, are senior students at the School For Gifted Youngsters... (Full Summary inside!) (ColossusxOC) (AngelxOC)
1. Cast of Characters

Hello and welcome! :) I do not own these characters or the X-Men stories, only my characters and their storylines!

Colossus deserves more love so here's a love story for him! And I wanted to see more Angel in the movies so this one is also for him! :) And yes, this story does kind of blend the timelines, ('Deadpool' taking place in modern day and Angel appearing in the '80s) but, the young versions of the cast made that cameo in 'Deadpool 2' so it's possible! ;)

Here's a full summary:

**Katharina Maximoff, older sister to 'The Twins' Peter and Wanda, is a senior student at the School For Gifted Youngsters. Unlike her siblings, Kath inherited the same power as their father, Magneto, that of powerful metal manipulation. That's cool and all, except for when your friend and crush is made of metal... **

**Her own twin sister, Daniela, is less focused on her studies and more rebellious. She is also hiding the fact that she's dating bad-boy Angel.**

**(ColossusxOC) (AngelxOC)**

Thanks and Enjoy! :) (Also, this story is separate from my other X-Men universe stories, just to avoid confusion!)

* * *

**Cast of Characters**

_The gang's all here!_

-Katharina 'Kath' Maximoff/Metallica

The 'Organized and Responsible' One

"Yes I'm a mutant and yes I'm proud - great, now I sound like Dad."

-Daniela 'Yela' Maximoff/Firestorm

The Very Different Twin

"I'm your twin for goodness sake, so stop treating me like a child."

-Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver

The Impatient Brother

"I'm in no rush."

-Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch

The Supportive Sister

"I may be the youngest, but I by far have the best powers."

-Lorna Dane/Polaris

The Distant Sister

"This may be your home, but it's not mine."

-Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto

The Overbearing Father

"Never let anyone tell you what you are and are not capable of. They have no idea."

-Piotr Rasputin/Colossus

The Gentle-giant Crush

"I'm not afraid of you, and you shouldn't be either."

-Angel

The Good Bad-boy Crush

"I had nothing and no one until I met you."

-Ellie Phimister/Negasonic Teenage Warhead

The Sassy Trainee

"The start of a new generation of X-Men? Who gave me that responsibility?"

_And last, but certainly not least..._

-Wade Wilson/Deadpool

The Sort-of Ally

"I think you mean relationship councilor!"


	2. A Broken Family

1\. A Broken Family

_"Rise, my mutant brothers and sisters! Rise and stand with me for the greater good of all mutant-kind! And let us go forth together into a better future..."_

The film clip was the fuzzy 1970s quality, and was even more fuzzy because Professor McCoy had projected the footage onto a bigger screen, making everything appear even more distorted. Despite this, you could clearly make out the helmeted, cloaked figure of radical mutant activist Magneto delivering his passionate speech on television when he had crashed the opening of the Sentinal plan and program at the White House in 1973.

Unfortunately, the history of mutants was impossible to study without looking at Magneto's, A.K.A. Erik Lehnsherr's, side of the story. There were always multiple sides to one story, to one history, and you had to look at all of them. Magneto's was just one of those many.

Magneto, A.K.A. Erik Lehnsherr, and in her case, A.K.A. Dad.

When the clip was finally over Professor McCoy turned off the projector and flicked the lights back on, making everyone groan and cover their eyes.

"Well, that was - enlightening..." Peter scooted up to join his sisters on their way out of the classroom, his high-top sneakers squeaking on the polished linoleum floor. He popped his gum. "He's passionate, I'll give him that."

"Yeah, about his 'mutant brothers and sisters'." Wanda deepened her voice to imitate that of their father, spreading her arms wide like he did when levitating, chin raised high in the air. Kath decided not to tell her sister that she indeed looked like their father when she did that. And sounded like him. Unlike Peter, who had rapidly (when did he not do something rapidly?) tried to lose their heavy Eastern-European accent, Wanda had kept hers, as well as Kath and Daniela. Their brother had also started going by the more American-sounding, as he said, 'Peter' instead of his actual name, 'Pietro'.

"Too bad he's not that passionate about his own family," Wanda continued. This earned her a nudge from Kath. "What? It's true."

"He tries," Kath defended.

Peter snorted. "Yeah, sure, sure he does. Like he tries to abide by the law. I'm with Wan on this one, sorry Big Sis."

"He does! I believe that. He at least wants to be a good father. That counts for something, Right?" Sometimes she wondered why she defended their father, but settled on because he was exactly that, their father.

The twins exchanged a glance. Kath always wondered what it would be like to have a twin and have that special twin-connection. Oh, she was a twin, but she was convinced Peter and Wanda had some special twin power that she and Daniela definitely did not share.

"Well then he should try harder." Peter shrugged. "I mean, why are you defending the guy? It's not like he's been any better to you."

"Because I'm hopeful that he _will_ change."

"That's them, they're his kids."

"He has kids?!"

The Maximoff siblings turned to see a trio of girls from the class gossiping down the hall a ways.

"Yeah."

"But they don't have the same last name as him..."

"That's cause they use their mom's last name. Would you want to be associated with him, let alone his kids? And see the one with the purple in her hair? She's got the same power as him. I bet he wants her to follow in his footsteps-"

"Hey, if you really want to know, you could just come and ask," Peter called to them, alerting them to the fact that the siblings could clearly hear them as they weren't being so discrete. The girls jumped and blushed.

"We're not our father," Wanda added icily, her eyes flashing red briefly.

"Is everything alright out here?" Professor McCoy, or Beast, appeared in the doorway.

"Yeah, we're all good." Peter flashed an innocent smile as the trio of gossiping girls hurried away.

"Listen, thanks for being such troopers with this. I'm sorry, I know it's difficult stuff for you guys."

"Thanks, Professor, but we understand," said Kath. "It's part of the required study material. Besides, you can't study the history of mutants without it - without _him.._."

"How do you think he feels about being taught in school?" asked Wanda as they left the classroom and Professor McCoy behind.

"Oh I'm sure he just loves it," Peter said, speaking of their father's ego.

"Well, at least we'll have something to talk about at our next lunch," Wanda said wearily.

"Oh he's gonna love that, getting to talk all about himself and his views with his kids, try and influence us some more. Anywho, I'm starved. See you after lunch." And with that he sped off.

* * *

"Has anyone seen Daniela?" Kath walked into the living room where her siblings were sitting on the couch. Wanda shrugged, not looking up from her book. Peter was too busy grooving to his music.

"Peter? Peter!" Kath swiped the headphones off his head.

"Hey!" He was in the middle of air-drumming. "What?"

"Have you seen Daniela lately?"

"Nope. Haven't seen her since this morning."

Kath heaved a sigh. "Great."

"I'm sure she's fine, Kath. She just likes to have time to herself," Wanda reminded.

"I know. I just wish she'd tell one of us where and when she's going before she goes."

"You know, she's not going to be pleased when she finds out you're babying her again," Wanda said, eyes back on her book. Peter was back listening to his music on full blast.

"I'm not babying her! I'm just worried. I'm looking out for my sister, which is hard when I don't know what she's doing half the time." Another reason why she wished they shared the same twin-power the younger twins did.

She continued her search - the mansion was large, so there was a chance Daniela could still be on campus and she just hadn't found her yet.

"Hi Kath!" a cheerful Russian accent greeted her.

She instantly felt more at ease. "Hi, Piotr."

"Are you alright? You seem stressed."

Ah, Piotr. Always so considerate. "Yeah, I'm alright, thanks. Just can't find Daniela - again. She didn't tell me if she was going out. You haven't seen her, have you?"

"I'm sorry, I haven't. Have you checked pantry? I've seen her in there a few times."

Pantry? Why the pantry? Kath would have to ask her sister about that later, once she finally found her.

"I'm just trying to hold together the piece of my family that I have left."

"Of course."

"Which isn't easy when two of my siblings hate our dad, our dad is distant yet somehow still overbearing, my mom is not in the picture, my older sister hasn't been heard from in years, and my own twin just ups and leaves all the time." She sighed, taking a breath. "Sorry, I'm ranting again."

"Do not be sorry, Kath. And I think you do good job."

"Thanks Piotr, I really needed to hear that."

"You're welcome. I'm here to talk anytime." He gave her a sweet smile before heading off.

Such a sweet guy.

"Oh my God, just tell the guy you like him already!" Daniela would say if she were here, as she had said many times before. "No use pining. Just tell him!"

"And then what?" Kath would reply. "Be in further constant worry that I could hurt him? I already am..."

"Well, if it helps, he likes you too, so just tell him and put you both out of your misery."

She wasn't sure it helped. Ah, sisterly love. From a sister she needed to find.

_Welcome! :) I've finished a story and done some more updating, so I feel I can start another story, so here we are! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	3. School For Gifted Youngsters

2\. School For Gifted Youngsters

When Kath returned to her and Danilea's shared dorm room later that evening and found said sister already there, she felt a surge of both relief and irritation.

"There you are! Where the hell have you been?"

"My day was fine, thank you, and yours? I was out." Daniela didn't look up from painting her nails.

"Out?"

"Just out."

"Yeah, got that much. You want to tell me where?"

"None of your business."

"Yes, it is."

"It's really not. I don't care what _you_ do with your spare time."

Kath sighed and crossed her arms. She was sick and tired of dealing with her sister's attitude. "Piotr said he saw you in the pantry. What were you doing in there?"

"Shouldn't that be obvious? Getting some snacks. What, you've got your boyfriend spying on me now?"

"No, he's not my boyfriend, and no, no one's spying on you. I just wish you would tell me, or someone, where you're going before you go."

"Out with friends."

"Friends?"

"That's what I said."

"Well, that's good then."

"Yeah."

Kath and Daniela both shared the same dark chocolate brown hair, both which they had dyed. Kath had added streaks of dark blue and purple, and Daniela had dyed the ends of hers bright orange to match her pyrokinesis powers. So when Kath noticed a dark spot on her sister's neck, it was pretty obvious that it was not some hair.

"Yela, is that a-"

"No," Daniela said, smacking her hand over the spot before Kath could even finish.

Yup, definitely a hickey. "You want to tell me about the friends you were out with?"

"Just friends."

This may be a bigger problem than Kath had originally thought.

* * *

The Maximoff siblings had arrived at Charles's Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters at a young age. The older twins had been ten, the younger twins eight. Their family was already broken, their dad on the run once again, a fugitive; their mom, a human, out of the picture for good; and Lorna only a few months from running away and not looking back.

Despite Xavier and their father's troubled past (to put it lightly), the professor wasn't about to abandon his once-friend's children, and warmly welcomed the Maximoff's, then still Lehnsherrs, into his school and giving them a much-needed home, support, and a stable life.

Their father had faced persecution for being a mutant his whole life, starting when he was just a child. His first child, a daughter named Nina, a mutant, was killed by the authorities when they came after him, and this only fueled his already present rage towards humans.

The siblings had been 'gifted' with various different powers - despite having one human parent, all their powers came across strong. Lorna, metal manipulation (like Dad); Kath, also extreme metal manipulation (too bad Lorna and Dad were never around to help her with said unmanageable powers); Daniela, pyrokinesis; Peter, speed; and Wanda, telekinetic energy. It was funny how they could all be from the same family and yet have such different and diverse powers amongst them, for the most part.

While Daniela, Peter, and Wanda all shared a collective dislike for their father, Kath, while her relationship with him was no less strained, often felt the urge to reach out to him, whether or not he would respond. But she was his daughter, and she shared the same powers as him. She often wondered if he had struggled with said powers as much as she did.

"Easy for you to say, you're his favourite," Peter once said casually when she brought this up.

This was not what she wanted to hear. "Hey, don't be like that. I am not." She brushed away all thoughts of their father. "Besides, we don't need him, we have each other." _We've managed this long together without him. _

Peter rolled his eyes. "That's super cheesy."

"It's true."

"Okay, true but cheesy."

That was the thing, with the exception of their eldest sister, who had made the conscious choice to leave, the Maximoff siblings had always had each other, could always depend on each other.

At least Kath tried her best to keep it this way. But as they grew older, the more worried about this she became.

* * *

"Hey, have you seen Daniela with any of the guys here?" Kath asked the twins the following day after her discussion with her sister that hadn't gotten very far.

"No, why?"

"Cause she definitely has a hickey on her neck and was trying to hide it. And she said she was 'out with friends'."

"So? I've had hickeys, we've all had hickeys!" Peter said, none too quietly.

"You didn't ask her?"

"She wouldn't tell me. And denied it."

"Are you sure that's what it was?"

"Yes."

"And you weren't just imagining it cause you were paranoid?"

"No! I know what I saw, Wanda!"

"Maybe your brain conjured it because your subconscious is upset with your lack of action," Peter said unhelpfully.

"Wow, thanks Pete."

"Just sayin'." Peter held up his hands in surrender. "I mean, we all know you've got the hots for Colossus."

"Could you speak any louder?!"

"Sure can!"

"Well don't. And who 'all knows'?"

"Well, me, Wanda, Daniela, Scott, Kurt, Alex, Jubilee, Ororo, Jean, Wade, Ellie, Yukio, Carol, and I'm pretty sure the professor even knows. I mean, the guy's a telepath, so probably." Peter gave a proud smile. "And let's not forget who else: you. You, Katharina Maximoff, know full well."

Kath scoffed. "You're unbelievable." She looked to Wanda for support.

Her red-clad sister only shrugged. "Sorry, Sis. But he's right. About it all."

"Colossus probably knows too."

"Enough, Peter."

"Just sayin'."

_Ah, some quality sibling content, haha! ;) So, I also want WandaxCarol (Captain Marvel) to appear in this story - I think they're a badass couple! ;) I may even add in some Cherik later too (I've seen lots of cute fanart of them!)_

_Next up we learn what Daniela is hididng... ;) Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	4. Daniela's Secret

3\. Daniela's Secret

The hickey incident with Kath had definitely been a close call. And Piotr noticing her snooping around in the school's communal pantry. She would have to be more careful.

The following evening she was in the process of heading back out, not 'sneaking out' as Kath accused her, when she ran into said sister.

"Now where are you going?"

"'Now'? Excuse me for having a life."

"I have a life, too."

"Not outside the walls of this school, it would seem."

Kath was trying to keep calm. "I would just really appreciate it if you told me where-"

"Downtown."

"Alone?"

"With friends."

"The same friends who gave you that massive hickey on your neck?"

"Jealous?"

"Don't-"

"Now I'm going to be late - thank you."

She was running late, now. She could still make it, with a little help from a friend.

"Please, Kurt."

"I don't know, Daniela! I don't vant to get in trouble," the blue teen cried, flicking his tail nervously.

"Usually I don't need to go all the way across town, but the location is different tonight."

"Where exactly are you going?"

"Far side of downtown-"

"The sketchy area!"

"It's not sketchy. Actually, a lot of mutants go there. So it's mostly safe."

"I heard someone died zhere!" Now Kurt wrung his hands nervously. "What if your sister starts questioning me?"

"You don't have to say anything."

"But I'm an honest person! I hate lying!"

"Well you don't have to say anything unless they ask you specifically."

"But I can only transport you someplace if I know what it looks like."

"You've been downtown, so just take me there, and I'll walk the rest of the way."

Kurt, cautious as he was, was also very kind and generous, so of course he wanted to help his friend out. She was dressed up a little, so this must be some special event she was going to - in the sketchy side of town.

"Please be careful!" he cried after dropping her off - he walked with her until she reached her destination, jumping at any sudden noise or movement. Despite his power of teleportation, he could also use some time away from the mansion, it would seem. He now also knew where the location was, so he could bring her again if needed.

"I will be. Thank you, Kurt. I owe you one."

"You're velcome!" In a poof, he was gone.

The matches had already begun when she entered the building - a rather muscular-looking mutant was being carried away from the cage on a stretcher amongst the screaming crowd. No match for a fallen angel.

She pushed her way through the crowd and towards the front where she saw a fluttering of ivory-coloured feathers and black leather. Warren fluttered around the cage, cheering as well, interacting with the crowd.

"Hiiiii Angelllll!" squealed some girls from off to the side.

Thankfully, Warren didn't seem to hear them, or ignored them. "Go Babe! You've got this!" Daniela cheered. The girls looked at her and she smiled. _Sorry not sorry, ladies, but he's taken. _

The next challenger entered the cage; bets were placed. If Warren won then he would receive all the money, even that in the bets placed against him. Same for if his opponent won.

Warren had been living on the streets for years now, so winning the money was very important to him. The winning it especially, proving himself. But Daniela hated to see him get himself hurt in the process.

Like now: his opponent had just punched him in the face, and would have knocked him down if not for his wings to catch him. He was determined, and a good fighter, but sometimes she worried he pushed himself too hard.

That was why she wished he would come stay at the mansion. Not just because he was her boyfriend and she would get to see him more often - that was definitely part of it - but also because then he would have a safe place to live, enough to eat, a roof over his head, and wouldn't have to worry about money and wouldn't be putting himself in dangerous situations all the time.

Although it looked like this opponent had the upper hand and may win, Warren made a comeback, and knocked the man down. Cheers and screams erupted from the crowd - he certainly had a fan base.

Usually there was a third round too, but the very enthusiastic announcer warned everyone that the police were lurking in the area, so they had better wrap this up. At mention of the police, all the mutants fled.

Daniela moved with the crowd and once back outside walked to her and Warren's meeting spot across the street. As she was passing by an alleyway, she passed by three teenage boys smoking cigarettes, playing with a lighter.

"Well, speaking of hot..." One looked her up and down, taking a long drag on his cigarette.

Oh, they were in for a surprise. "You know, you really shouldn't play with fire."

"'You shouldn't play vith vire'," they mocked her heavy accent. "We know what we're doin'." The one with the lighter flicked it open again.

Daniela shrugged and held up her hand - they asked for it.

Her palm ignited, a small spark growing steadily larger - as did the flame from the lighter. The boy dropped it when it became too hot to hold, risking him getting burnt. The flame withered and died.

They looked back at her. "Freak."

"Hey-" Now all three boys jumped when a dark figure landed behind them, trapping them between her and him. His beautiful blue eyes peeked out from beneath swirling golden locks - he really was a vision of an angel. "Is there a problem here?" His wings flicked, feathers ruffling.

"Back off, bird-man."

Warren extended his wings out to their full span. The three boys said nothing more, and took off, dropping their cigarettes. Daniela made sure they were extinguished as to not be a fire hazard.

Warren rolled his eyes watching the boys run off before turning to her. "You okay? Were they giving you trouble?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle. Thanks for stopping by though."

"Of course."

She jumped into his arms, not missing the way he winced.

She pulled back. "You're hurt."

"Not badly."

"No kind of hurt is good, Warren."

"I'm fine, Yela, really. I promise," he assured her, giving her a deep kiss. Then he withdrew a fat wad of cash from his inner jacket pocket. "You hungry? I'm starved."

They walked hand-in-hand to a pub run by and frequented by mutants, a safe space for mutants to go and gather. Warren ordered a big plate of food, digging in right away. "You sure you don't want anything?"

"Thanks, but I ate before I left. Save your money. Besides, you've got to keep strong if you're going to continue cage fighting. I might steal one of these though-" She snatched a fry off his plate, popping it in her mouth before he could react.

"Hey!" he laughed.

She laughed too. It was such a good feeling to be able to be out in public and openly display themselves, two mutants out on a date, surrounded by other mutants. It was the same sort of feeling as being at the mansion, only this was a more open, public space. Warren was certainly glad, not having to tuck his wings across his back and stuff them uncomfortably into his jacket.

Once Warren was finished eating, he picked her up and carried her up to the rooftop of the pub. It had a rooftop garden, a nice, calming, peaceful place to sit day or night.

She gave him the cheese and crackers she had brought him. "This is more than I've had in a while-" He tucked them with the leftovers he had from his hearty dinner. "Thank you."

"Of course. I'm happy to help. 'That's what we do', as the professor always says." She sighed. "Speaking of, I should get back to school soon before Kath freaks out at me again."

"You two okay?"

"Yeah, I just wish she would stop babying me."

"I don't think she babies you."

"You should see her Warren, it's awful. She treats me like a child." She let out a groan.

Warren's arm wrapped around her shoulder, his wing folding over it comfortingly. She leaned into his embrace, his feathers tickling her cheek. "You should come back with me."

He chuckled. "Sounds very tempting, after you've complained about it."

"Not the school itself, my sister. You could help distract me from my nosy twin."

"I can be very distracting." He wiggled his eyebrows, earning a shove and laugh from her. Then he turned more serious. "I'm not so sure I'd be welcome."

"Mutants are always welcome there."

"I know, but..." He trailed off. "Maybe another time. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I will, however, take you home."

"You don't have to do that."

"Yes, I do. You came all this way to support me, and you brought me something to eat, it's the least I can do. Besides, then we'll have more time together."

"And I love flying."

"Exactly." He smiled, standing and offering her his hand. She took it and he scooped her into his arms once more, sweeping her off her feet.

True to his name, he was a total angel, and she was so absolutely smitten. Which made keeping them a secret all the more difficult.

_Now we all know exactly what she's hiding... ;) I love these characters so much!_

_Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think so far! :)_


	5. Training

4\. Training

The next morning was scheduled training time, with each student there to focus on themselves and their powers. It was about furthering your ability and confidence in using your powers.

"Daniela, late again," Professor McCoy said when the redhead stepped into the training room at least fifteen minutes after class had started.

"Sorry, late night." She yawned.

"So I can see. I know that you're a senior student now, but that is no excuse for tardiness. Okay, get suited up, please."

Kath was shooting her a look across the room. Daniela ignored it.

The robots Professor McCoy had built specifically for training were lined up. They were build so that they would adapt to each individual power set, providing a challenge.

Everyone lined up across from their own robot and began the challenge.

Kath was straining, and sweating up a storm, and yet, nothing seemed to be happening to the robot standing before her. Daniela merely blasted her robot with a ball of fire. Kath definitely envied her sister and her seemingly effortless control over her powers. And she wasn't afraid to use them either.

Everyone else seemed to deal with their robots quickly and efficiently. Once they were done, Professor McCoy let them leave.

"Don't get discouraged, Kath," Piotr reassured her.

"Thanks, kind of hard not to though." _Especially _with Piotr around. Not just because she liked him and wanted to show off - as her siblings would say she was doing, which, for the record, she wasn't - but because she was obviously not in control and she didn't want to harm Piotr. Oh why oh why did she have to have such a big, fat crush on a metal man?

Because he was sweet, considerate, kind, caring, and so many other wonderful things. He looked intimidating and intense, but really he was a total sweetheart and a great friend.

Daniela was one of the first to leave, as usual. Also as usual, Kath lingered behind.

"Professor McCoy? Is it alright if I stay and practice some more?"

"Sure, Kath. I'm leaving the robots activated for the next group. I have another class to teach, so Piotr is staying with the next group. That's alright with you, Piotr?"

"Of course." The Russian man smiled.

Kath had begun assistant teaching in some classes, like with Professor McCoy's history class that Peter and Wanda were in. Her goal was to be able to help with training as well, like Piotr was doing - once she gained control of her powers. This meant extra practice and extra concentration.

Professor McCoy left to go to his class and the next group filed in. It was Peter and Wanda's year.

Peter simply whipped past his robot, knocking it down. Wanda crushed hers with some telekinetic energy. Kath could barely hold hers back.

"Maybe take a break, Kath. You don't want to overdo it and push yourself too hard," Piotr stepped in, cautioning her.

It was only then that she realized how heavily she was breathing and how sweaty and tired she was.

Wanda gave her a sympathetic look as she walked off to the side and sat on the bench with her water bottle.

Down the bench from her, Ellie, a girl in Peter and Wanda's year, was sitting.

"Sitting this one out, Ellie?"

"Yeah, for now. Professor McCoy says I can't just blast the robot, or I'll become predictable. I've mastered that, but now I need to come up with other techniques."

"I can't even come up with one technique."

"You'll get it."

"Thanks."

Ellie turned back to those who were training, watching Yukio take down one robot with her electric wires.

"You should talk to her," Kath urged.

Ellie pulled her gaze away from Yukio. "I don't know..."

"Go for it."

Yukio caught them looking and flashed them a big smile and wave.

"How about I will - if you talk to Colossus." Ellie smirked and quirked and eyebrow.

"Oh, not you too..."

"Peter and Wanda have filled me in."

"Of course they have."

"He's a good guy."

"He's a lovely guy."

"Exactly! So go talk to him! He believes that you'll master your powers."

Kath wished she could share his confidence in herself. "Okay, fine, deal." They shook hands.

"Awesome!" Ellie leapt off the bench and strode right over to Yukio, upholding her side of the deal right away.

Kath hesitated, looking across the room at Piotr where he was standing arms-crossed assessing the trainees.

She turned and left the training room, heading for the locker room. She could always keep her promise to Ellie later.

* * *

Daniela disappeared again, after training and well into the evening. Kath tried not to let herself worry, but this was not easy. She just had to keep telling herself that her sister was fine, but that was difficult when she had no idea where she was and who she was with.

She was exhausted after training that morning, so any thoughts of staying up and waiting for Daniela were dashed when she fell asleep while reading before bed.

She slept soundly through the night, recovering from the strain that training had taken on her body, and awoke just before eight the next morning.

Even in its groggy state, her brain managed to register that the bed across from hers had been left untouched, untouched since the previous morning.

All thoughts of calm vanished, and panic struck through her. She threw on a robe and fled to the Professor's office, knowing he was usually awake early.

"Professor, I'm worried. I don't think Daniela came home last night."

_Wanted to end on a bit of a suspenseful note ;) So sorry, I updated this one on one of my writing websites, but not this one! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	6. Consequences

5\. Consequences

Last year, Daniela had gotten a part-time job at a vinyl record store downtown (not the sketchy end). Like visiting Warren, it was a breath of fresh air from the same old school life everyday.

Despite how business could be slow, she enjoyed wandering through the aisles of records, flipping through, organizing, making recommendations to other music lovers like herself. She was saving up to buy a record player, already having a collection of vinyl at home, just waiting to be played.

The store sold both new and used items, and she was just rifling through a box of used cassette tapes that had been dropped off when she sensed a familiar presence behind her.

"Excuse me, Miss. I'm looking for something very specific..."

She gasped and giggled at the hot whisper beside her ear from the person standing behind her. She spun around to face her golden-haired boy.

"What are you doing here?" she cried. She noticed that despite hating it, he had tucked his wings into a baggy jacket in order to appear human.

"I wanted to come visit you." He grinned. "You're always coming to visit me, so I wanted to visit you."

"Well, I'm glad you did."

"I also wanted to give you this-" Warren reached into the pocket of his jacket and withdrew a necklace with an orange charm pendant.

She gasped as he handed it over. "Warren! Where did you get this?"

"I bought it, with some of the money I earned the other night."

"You didn't have to-"

"I know. But I wanted to. I wanted to do something special for you."

"Well thank you, so much. I love it." She gave him a hug and pecked his lips.

"I'm glad. I also wanted to let you know that I've found a new place to stay."

"Ooo, where?"

"An old abandoned barn. It's great. It's secluded, quiet, got a loft. Won't have any nosy people poking around. I'd like to show it to you sometime."

Daniela looked at her watch. "Well, you're in luck, I finish in about forty-five minutes, so if you don't mind waiting, we could go after my shift."

"Sounds perfect. I'll keep exploring then."

"Holler if you need help finding something."

"I will."

* * *

"This is great, Warren." The barn itself was in a bit of a rough shape, but provided shelter. And with his wings, Warren could fly up to the loft and various ceiling beams. "I like it a lot."

"I'm glad. I'm hoping to stay for a while."

Daniela climbed up the ladder to the loft. Warren simply floated up.

"Show off."

He just laughed.

She threw down her bag and collapsed next to it on the hay. "Hey, you can see the stars through that crack in the ceiling. It's really quite nice..."

He lay down next to her to inspect the stars. "Yeah, it is."

"I wish I had a private, secluded place to come stay, away from the school and everything."

"Well, feel free to come here any time. I may not always be here, but I'm happy to share it."

"Thanks, Love."

"Of course." He stroked her cheek with a feather, something she loved, and she giggled.

They leaned in for a kiss, one that quickly became more passionate.

"Oh, by the way," Daniela said as Warren's head dipped lower so he could kiss her neck. "You've got to be more careful - my sister saw that massive hickey you gave me last time."

He chuckled, slightly sheepish. "My apologies."

"Hey, I didn't mind it."

He chuckled again. "I promise I'll be more careful."

They kissed again, passion searing between them, the stars their only witness.

* * *

Daniela stirred awake, jumping slightly at a sudden noise in the dark. Forcing her sleep-heavy eyes open too quickly, she saw a shadow pass across the ceiling through a beam of moonlight streaming in, and saw that the source of the noise was an owl, who had also taken refuge within the barn

Moonlight... Dark... Barn...

It was night and she was still at the barn, not back at the mansion.

A jolt of panic shot through her. "Shit-" She began scrambling to gather her belongings, and fix her slightly-disheveled appearance from her and Warren's passionate endeavors earlier - much earlier than she had realized - beneath the stars and rafters, her movements stirring the peaceful angel beside her.

"Daniela?" Warren rolled over and rubbed a hand over his still sleepily-peaceful face. "What time is it?"

"Six-thirty in the morning!"

At these words, Warren shot up into a seated position, his wings ruffling. "Oh, shit -

"Yeah, 'oh shit.' We fell asleep!"

"Here, I'll take you home." He stood, also straightening his clothes and running a hand through his hair that her own hands had made a mess of last night.

"You don't have to-"

"Yes, I do. And it's the quickest way. I'm sorry-"

"Not your fault." This was on her. She was going to be in serious trouble, she just knew it.

* * *

"Where the hell have you been?!" When at last Daniela arrived home, Kath looked like she couldn't decide whether or not to scream at her, or burst into tears. "We were worried sick!"

"Oh, thank God!" Peter and Wanda looked just as relieved.

"Yes, we were all worried." The professor wheeled up. Great, now the professor was involved too.

"I thought I'd lost you."

Daniela scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be so dramatic."

"Daniela, this is serious," stepped in the professor. "Kath, let's let Daniela get settled in back home and then she can tell us what she's been up to."

Great. Just wonderful.

"This is ridiculous. Why do you care?" She snapped more than she meant to - or maybe she did mean to snap that much.

The professor looked slightly taken aback. "Daniela, is it true that you were not home at all last night?"

"Yeah..."

"Would you please tell us where you were?"

"I was at work-"

"All night?"

"No. I went to go hang out with a friend afterwards and we fell asleep by accident-"

"I'm not sure that's the whole story," remarked Kath.

"You don't believe me? Some sister you are!"

"Well, it's not like you ever tell me anything! How can I trust you?!"

"Please, don't raise your voices at each other." Daniela opened her mouth to shout again, but Xavier held up a hand asking for silence. "Please. Now Daniela, I think what is best is if we start a log book for when you're leaving the mansion-" He watched the young woman's face progressively fall. "-Just so we can keep track of when and how much you are leaving. It's just the mystery of it all that is stressful. We're just looking out for you."

"Are you kidding me?! Now you're monitoring me?! That's so much worse than me leaving for a while each day. I'm a senior student for God's sake!"

"I know that you are a senior student now, but you are still a student. As long as you are under this roof myself and the other professors are responsible for your well-being-"

"Then I'll leave! For good! You can write that in your log book!" Without another glance, Daniela swerved around and stormed into her bedroom, utterly pissed, slamming the door behind her. She immediately began tossing clothes into a bag. Perhaps she would be taking up Warren's offer of going to the barn right away.

_Sorry to leave you all on a cliffhanger from last time! I've been super busy moving back into university! Yes, it is the same barn as in 'Apocalypse'._

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	7. Danger Surrounds Us

6\. Danger Surrounds Us

In the end, Daniela didn't end up packing a bag and going to join Warren in his barn, though definitely heavily considered it. Instead, she locked herself away in her room for the whole next day, until the evening when she snuck out to another of Warren's cage fights scheduled for that night. She didn't sign herself out - screw their 'sign-in, sign-out' policy. She was an adult and did not need to be monitored like a child.

The venue for the fight tonight had been changed from previous, and instead of the 'sketchy side' of downtown was in a warehouse at the far end of the city. Daniela wasn't sure why it had been moved, but maybe to avoid suspicion judging by the police scare last time.

As soon as she set foot in the warehouse she knew something was off. Something was wrong.

A security guard checked her pockets and bag closely before finally allowing her into the arena.

Which was a total chaotic mess.

For one, it was bigger, so lots more people. And rowdy people, clearly intoxicated. She tried to make her way towards the front which proved very difficult. When she finally made it, she was stopped by another guard - a heavily armed guard.

"Hey, that's as close as you get little girl," he said.

She was about to snap back at him for speaking to her like that, but one look at the giant machine gun in his hands kept her quiet. What was this?

She saw a flash of ivory wing and saw that Warren had entered the cage - the door locked behind him. The crowd went wild. He tried to keep his energy up along with them, but it was clear that he was uncomfortable. She couldn't meet his eye over the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have a very exciting show for you!" said the announcer, intoxicated as well, the sound system so loud it rang in Daniela's ears, only adding to the highly uncomfortable nature of this whole situation. "First up we have the one, the only, Archangel!" The crowd started screaming louder - they had never stopped. "The ladies love him!" Women's screams rose above the others as if in affirmation. "And his first opponent is the very alluring - Polaris!"

Now Daniela saw a flash of green - long hair, a woman. When the person standing in front of her blocking her view shifted slightly, she gasped.

_Lorna_.

Her sister.

She was here. She was in the fighting cage with Warren.

"May the best win!" the announcer continued. "And I do mean the best! Three, two, one - GO!"

The fight began. Daniela was now on her tip toes, straining to see what was going on. Warren lunged at Lorna, who just stepped out of the way. This happened a few more times, she avoiding him and not fighting back.

"Fight!" Warren urged her. "Or they'll kill us both-" He nodded to the guards standing with machine guns, surrounding the cage.

"No one's gonna kill anybody." Lorna raised her hand, light green energy swirls surrounding her fingers.

The guard standing closest to her lost control of his gun - she in control now.

Chaos ensued. There was gunfire, shouting, screaming, running. Everyone was pushing and shoving their way out of the building.

Lorna burst the cage open, setting her and Warren free. "Daniela!" Warren tried to fly in order to catch a glimpse of her amongst the chaos. "Daniela!"

"Warren!" She tried to fight her way back, but the crowd was pushing her the opposite way. As soon as she set foot outside she ran across the street, like their meeting spot at the usual place, scanning the chaotic crowd for him - and Lorna.

"Daniela!" Warren landed behind her.

"Oh my god-" She ran into his arms in a crushing hug.

He cupped her face in his hands. "Are you alright?"

"Yes."

"I'm so sorry. _So_ sorry. If I'd know it was going to be like that I wouldn't have asked you to come."

"If it was going to be like that you shouldn't have gone - Warren, you're bleeding! Oh my god-" A thick dribble of blood was dripping from his right wing.

"Oh-" He seemed to just notice it, but it was obvious that he was in quite a bit of pain. He staggered a little, and she wrapped an arm around his waist to steady him.

She frantically looked around them, wondering what to do and where to go, when she saw that flash of green again.

"Lorna!"

Thankfully, her sister heard her.

When she turned around, Lorana looked just as shocked. "Daniela?"

The sisters stared at each other, as if not family members but former acquaintances, now meeting again after a long time.

Daniela slowly - cautiously almost - approached her sister, after checking ot make sure Warren was steady on his feet.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"You're here."

"Yeah. You too."

"Yeah."

"You got a hair cut." Daniela nodded to the green locks, at one time trailing all the way down Lorna's back.

"Yeah, a while ago."

"It looks nice."

"Thanks."

"Yeah..."

They continued to stare, until Daniela went back to supporting Warren. "This is Warren, my boyfriend. Warren, this is Lorna, my sister."

"Is he hurt?" Lorna asked.

"Oh-" In the shock of seeing her sister again, Daniela had momentarily forgotten Warren's presence, let alone injury. He gripped her hand, the pain worse now, he almost as pale as his wings.

"Will you help me?" she asked Lorna.

Lorna seemed to hesitate but came around to Warren's other side, trying to avoid his wing.

"We have to get him to the mansion," Daniela said.

"I don't want to go back there."

"Me neither. But it's our safest bet right now."

* * *

Thankfully, Daniela didn't need to do a lot of persuading to get her sister to help her get back to the mansion, with Warren injured and all.

It was late when they snuck back into the school, everyone supposedly in bed or at least in for the night. The kitchen was thankfully empty at the moment, but they went to the back storage room just to be safe.

Daniela found some disinfectant and bandages and began cleaning Warren's wing while Lorna readied the bandages.

"So you go by Polaris now?"

Lorna shrugged. "What do they call you?"

"Firestorm, although that was more self-imposed. What were you doing at the fight?"

"I could ask you the same."

"I usually go and watch Warren's fights. But this time was different."

"Yes, it was. This one was organized by mutant-traffickers to lure mutants in - don't get me started on the details, nasty stuff. My gang and I have been travelling across the country trying to put an end to it."

"You have a gang?" Sounded like Dad.

"We're just trying to lessen the threats. It would be nice to live in a world that wasn't so dangerous all the time for us, you know?"

Daniela nodded. Yes, she could definitely understand this,

Once Warren's wing was all cleaned, Daniela bandaged it the best she could. "There you go, Love. All done."

He still appeared distant and dazed, but gave her hand a squeeze.

Lorna was at the doorway.

"Don't go, not yet," Daniela begged.

"I want to take a quick look around." In a flash of her green hair, she was gone.

Maybe she had sensed that they had company approaching, for, minutes later, the overhead light flicked on, startling them.

"Daniela?" Kath stood there, Piotr behind her, as well as Peter and Wanda.

Though angry to be caught this way, and by her sister of all people, Daniela was too shaken up by the events of the night to lash out.

"What happened? Who's this?" Kath asked, nodding to the droopy-winged Warren.

"This is Warren, he's my boyfriend."

"Oh..." Kath and Piotr stared.

"Well, I guess that explains the hickey from the other night then," said Kath.

Daniela shot her a look that said, _be nice! _

"You have a boyfriend?!" cried Wanda. "And not only that but a secret boyfriend?!"

"Please don't encourage her."

"Shut up, Kath."

"Well, suddenly, all the sneaking out makes sense," said Peter.

"Yeah..."

"What happened?" asked Piotr.

"It's a long story. There was a fight, Warren got hurt. I brought him back here."

"Wait, you went out-" Kath began, but Piotr placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and spoke.

"You should tell Professor. Your boyfriend cannot hide away in the basement forever."

Daniela sighed. "I guess."

"How did you get him back here?"

"I had some help, actually." Daneila gestured for her siblings to follow her. They found Lorna in the entrance all, gazing up at the tall ceiling.

"Lorna!"

Lorna lifted a hand from her pocket in a small wave. "Hi."

"You're here."

"Yeah. Had to help Daniela."

"Yeah... Well, how are you?" Kath tried.

Lorna shrugged. "Getting there."

"Where?" asked Wanda.

"Have you seen Dad lately?" Lorna ignored the question.

"No."

"Neither have I. I have to go." Lorna turned towards the door - not before a blue and silver blur swept past.

"You can't go now! You only just got here." Peter blocked her path.

"Out of my way Peter - I mean it. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"B-but, maybe you could-"

"What, stay? I don't think so." Lorna turned to Daniela. "Sorry about Warren. Hope he's going to be okay."

And just like that, their sister was gone again.

_Whew, sorry for the delay! I'm trying to catch up on all my stories!_

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	8. Mutant Safe Haven

7\. Mutant Safe Haven

"Morning Piotr," Kath said upon entering the kitchen the next morning and finding the metal man already there.

"Good Morning, Kath." Piotr turned away from the TV to smile at her. Shouting erupted from the program he was watching, the news by the looks of it, and he grumbled something in Russian before flicking off the screen.

"Was that another protest?" Kath asked.

He sighed. "_Da_, more anti-mutant talk."

"Worthington again?"

"_Da_. He sure knows how to gather a crowd."

"Some people will never stop hating us. He's just one of them." She came over with her cereal and sat down next to him.

Warren Worthington II, or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' as Peter had dubbed him, was a wealthy man in the city who had continued in the footsteps of his father with anti-mutant campaigns. He had a lot of followers and was only gaining more power. Sometimes, it seemed like the mansion was the only safe-haven for mutants.

Kath hated hearing news like this, and the current events seemed to be constantly flooded with it, but flicked on the TV again. A mass protest was shown marching down the streets of New York, people holding signs and shouting. Some of the signs read: 'Dirty Mutants!' 'No More Mutants!' 'Let's Rid New York of Mutants For Good!'

Dad actively worked against people like Worthington, leading anti-anti-Mutant protests. And, it seemed, Lorna was doing similar work. A day in the life of a mutant, a constant struggle for rights.

"_Yesterday another mass protest took to the streets of New York, once again protesting the inclusion of mutants in the city,"_ the news reporter was saying. _"The protest certainly drew a crowd, however, it also received some backlash. The sound system at the podium, which had been sound-tested the day before, turned out to not be working, much to the embarrassment of the speakers, and some protesters said their signs had been tampered with-"_

The camera then showed some of the marked-up signs, with spray paint all over them. One, baring a big, bold, _F-You_, was blurred out.

At this, Piotr sighed and buried his face in his hands.

Kath turned to him, grinning. "Deadpool again?"

"Every time I tell him, and every time he doesn't listen."

"Well, I'm not the biggest fan of the guy, but I don't mind when he does stuff like this. Serves them right."

"Don't encourage him, please." Piotr, being the sweet soul he was, had tried time and time again, and failed over and over again just as many times in trying to bring Deadpool over to the 'good side', to join the X-Men. However, the mouthy merc had refused each and every time, instead preferring to go rogue. Sometimes Kath thought Piotr was wasting his time with Deadpool, but she found it sweet how hard he tried. Despite the frustration, his constant efforts showed how much he cared.

Kath and Piotr were early risers, but slowly but surely, more and more students filed into the kitchen for breakfast, including the twins.

"I wish Lorna would stay," Wanda said.

Kath had been thinking a lot about their eldest sister too in the wake of being briefly reunited with her. "So do I. But she made up her mind a long time ago, so if we couldn't change it then, we can't change it now."

That was the thing about the Lehnsherr family: they were extremely stubborn. Once they had made up their minds, there was no going back.

* * *

Telling the Professor about Warren didn't turn out to be as bad as Daniela had feared. Yes, he was a bit angry that she had blatantly disobeyed the rules, yet again, defied their sign-out rule, but he was glad that both she and Warren were safe back at the mansion.

Hank checked Warren's injuries over to make sure he was alright, and said that Daniela had done a good job of cleaning him up.

"So, Mr.-" the Professor said.

"Just Warren," Warren told him.

"Warren. We'll get you started on classes right away. We've also got a dorm room for you. One of us can take you to collect your belongings-"

"This is it, really." Warren shrugged.

"Alright then. Kurt?"

"_Ja_?"

"Will you please escort your new roommate to your shared dormitory."

Kurt looked a little startled upon laying eyes on Warren. "Uh, _ja_, Professor."

"Thank you."

"You didn't tell me your boyfriend was scary!" Kurt hissed to Daniela.

"He's not!" she protested.

Warren was looking unsure as he glanced around the room.

The Professor gave him a reassuring smile. "Welcome to the School for the Gifted."

_Hello and welcome back! :) I have so much planned for this story, I'm just struggling a little to get to that point! But I'll keep working at it, I promise!_

_I seem to be on a role with updating (finally!) so keep checking back soon!_

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	9. Lunch With Dad

8\. Lunch With Dad

Perhaps Lorna's mentioning of him had jinxed it.

"Family reunion or what," scoffed Peter.

It had started out being once every month, and now it had moved up to once every week. Thursday was the chosen day. Every Thursday Dad would take them out for lunch, some father-children bonding time.

However, the last few weeks had not seen this happen, as Dad had been away on 'official business', which was probably as sketchy as it sounded. But the evening before, he had called to say that he was available to start their meetings again this week ('I hope this isn't too short of notice') and so it was set.

Pete, Wan, and Yela thought this once-a-week thing was a little excessive (the same thing they had said to the once-a-month) and Kath would remind them that most kids saw their father every day, to which they would reply with most fathers weren't radical-mutant-activist-criminals. Their family was complicated, to say the least. All separated, different last names, radical eldest sister, radical dad, not to mention the various mutant powers.

Dad would pick them up at the mansion at noon. He was always early, at least fifteen minutes. He was so eager. Kath thought it was sweet. The others thought it was pathetic.

Wanda and Kath were just finishing getting ready, Erik waiting downstairs for them, while Peter still had not appeared. Neither had Daniela.

"Where's Yela?" Kath asked.

"Where do you think?" replied Wanda. "With her boyfriend."

"Again?"

"Yup."

"She spent the night in his dorm _again_?"

"Yeah." Wanda flashed a wicked grin. "Poor Kurt."

"Wanda!" Kath swatted at her.

"What?! You were thinking it too!"

"Was not!"

"Besides, it's not like it's a secret!"

Kath did not need or want that image. And, well, she wasn't about to go bother them. So instead, she went to go check on their still MIA brother.

"Come in."

"Peter!" she cried when she saw him still in bed in his pyjamas, which were his underwear. "Dad's here!"

"It's not noon yet."

"He's always early, you know that. Put it this way, the sooner we leave, the sooner it will be over. Now get up."

Peter shrieked when she grabbed his quilt and yanked it off him. Then he zipped past her into the bathroom and out again a few seconds later all dressed. "See, all ready." He shrugged, hands in his pockets, and put on his giant headphones.

"Good, now you can go retrieve Daniela from Warren and Kurt's room."

"Oh, hell no. I'm not doing that!"

It was time to go, and everyone had assembled down in the entrance hall - everyone except for Daniela. Of course.

Kath was the unlucky one sent to go retrieve her twin. When she knocked on the boys' dorm, she was greeted by Warren opening the door in nothing but his boxers.

Wow. Yup, that was pretty self-explanatory. Fantastic.

She crossed her arms. "Is Daniela there?"

"Yeah, she's here. You ready to go, Babe?" Warren turned to call over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess." Daniela called from within the room, sounding as though she dreaded what was to come. "Give me a minute."

"How's the wing?" Kath asked the boyfriend.

"Alright, still sore."

"Well, you seem to be doing pretty good, all things considered." If his current, clearly obvious state was anything to go by.

"Be nice!" Daniela appeared behind his wing. "And stop ogling."

"I'm definitely not ogling your boyfriend."

"You were, I saw you! He has that effect. Makes it hard, doesn't he." Daniela playfully poked Warren in the side.

"Have a nice lunch," he said.

Daniela gave a dramatic groan. "Wish us luck."

Kath shot a glance at her sister as they made their way down the hall. _Really?_

Daniela just gave a satisfied grin.

They joined the others out in the car.

"Alright, where would you like to go? Any suggestions?" Erik was smiling. No one else was.

There came only muttering from the back seat from the twins, and nothing from Daniela. Kath sighed from where she sat in the passenger seat. "We're flexible. What about that nice little diner with the all-day breakfast? You like it there, right Dad?"

"Sounds perfect. You three okay with that?" More muttering from the twins and Yela, which he took as a yes. With that, they were on their way.

Kath sighed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

"Stop making this so difficult - please," she hissed to her siblings while their dad requested a table for five to the host once they reached the restaurant. "You're making me feel like the mom trying to stop her misbehaving children. It's not a good feeling."

Soon the family was seated in a booth by the window. The silence was heavy and awkward, broken only when Peter began flirting with the waitress. Kath resisted the urge to kick him beneath the table.

"That's a nice necklace, Daniela," Erik commented once they had ordered.

Daniela reached up to clasp the orange pendant. "Thanks."

"Where did you get it?" Poor Dad and his attempts at making conversation.

Daniela didn't bat an eye. "My boyfriend gave it to me."

This got his attention. "_Boyfriend_?"

Kath rolled her eyes. _Oh boy. _

Erik's eyebrows knit together. "I didn't know you had a boyfriend."

Daniela shrugged and muttered, "Well you have been gone a long time."

"Who is he?"

"His name's Warren."

"Mutant?"

"Yes."

"How old is he?"

"Twenty."

"Oh, so he's older then..."

Again, she shrugged. "Only two years."

"That's still a gap."

"A small gap. Barely even a gap."

"Still a gap."

"So? Why do you care?"

"Yela," warned Kath, sensing that this argument was heating up. Even Peter and Wanda decided not to get involved.

There was a moment of silence, father and daughter staring each other down, before Erik cleared his throat. "Well, I'd like to meet him."

"Oh, I bet you would."

"I'm serious, I do. We can arrange a time for us to meet."

"Oh, I'm sure he'd just _love _to meet you."

Thankfully, the waitress came by with their food then, breaking into the conversation border-lining an argument.

The family was silent while they ate. That was, until Dad looked up at the television set.

Kath saw that the TV was showing the news, coverage of another Worthington anti-mutant protest.

Dad put down his knife and fork, pointing at the screen. "See, this is how it starts, every time: hatred. Othering. That whole 'us vs. them' mentality. Never ends well."

"Stand back, he's gonna blow," muttered Peter and this time, Kath resisted the urge to resist kicking him beneath the table. He yelped when her foot hit his shin.

Erik's hand was resting on his forearm, where beneath the sleeve of his sweater was the prisoner number tattoo he had received at Auschwitz as a child. He constantly drew comparisons between the Nazi treatment of Jews and the human treatment of mutants, and honestly, Kath couldn't blame him. Erik had seen extreme levels of hatred in his lifetime, starting at a young age, and now, seeing it again, he was understandably terrified. However, this had grown into an intense hatred of his own.

"Do you think it'll ever stop?" Kath dared to ask.

Erik sighed. "I'm hopeful. But not while people like him are around," he spat, turning back to his food.

Now there was an even greater silence, more intense now than awkward.

Peter was already done eating, figures. "Well, anyone for dessert?"

This may have just been the worst father-children outing to date. What an utter disaster.

_Happy New Year all! :) More to come soon! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	10. Family

9\. Family

"So, how's Warren settling in?" Wanda asked during an evening sibling study session in the library. It had been a week since Warren's unexpected and sudden arrival at the mansion, a few days since the disastrous lunch with Dad. Better luck next week - now Kath was the one really dreading it.

"Good. It's a big change, but he seems to be adjusting." Daniela nodded. "I'm just glad he's finally here, and not out on the streets anymore. I was always so worried about him, so I'm glad to have him here now."

"We _know _you are."

"Yeah, I bet he's doing pretty well having you here to help him settle in," chuckled Peter, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Eww, will you two stop with the sexual references already," cried Kath to the younger twins.

"They can say what they like, I don't care," said Daniela as Pete and Wan shared a mischievous grin. "I think you're just jealous that I'm getting all the action and you're not." She poked her tongue out at the younger twins.

"Um, thanks. And that's not what I meant, at all."

"Oh, come on, Kath. You know you could be getting some action if you just talked to Piotr." Daniela gave her a wink and suggestive nudge.

"I don't want to sleep with him, Daniela."

"Well, she does, but she wants the full relationship and everything too," Peter said.

"And what's wrong with that?" Kath asked defensively.

"Nothing, I'm just saying it cause you won't, for some strange reason."

"Yeah, there's no use denying it, Kath."

"I'm not denying _anything_. Stay out of my love life, please."

"Love life? What love life? You mean 'lack of'."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kath demanded to her twin.

"Well, Kath, it's no secret that you're still a virgin... And have you ever even kissed anyone?"

"And since when is that a bad thing?" Kath didn't understand how this conversation had so suddenly seemed to turn into an attack on her.

"It's not. But it's also not a secret that you have the hots for Piotr, so you could totally do something about both. And you should."

"I'm very done with this conversation." Kath stood abruptly, gathering her books and turning to leave.

"Aww, she's blushing," chuckled Peter.

"Just shut up, will you!"

Her siblings' laughter followed her out of the library.

It felt like they were ganging up on her, mocking her, no one on her side. So what about her love life or lack thereof? Why did they care? What did they care?

Her whole body was flaming, both with hurt and embarrassment, and with anger.

"Hello, Kath."

"Ah!" She jumped and spun around to face none other than Piotr himself.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh, no, that's okay." _We were just talking about you._

"Are you alright? You seem a little upset."

"Oh, yeah..." Now she was blushing furiously. "Just the siblings being annoying. Such menaces sometimes. But it's okay, I'm used to it, or at least should be by now. You have a sister, right?" she asked, eager to change the subject.

He smiled. "_Da_, Illyana, my younger sister. She is back home in Russia with our parents."

"You miss them a lot, don't you."

"Very much, yes. I've wanted to bring them over here, but I don't know... It's getting so dangerous for mutants. Not that it's much better over there, or anywhere for that matter."

Kath nodded. "I understand. And I'm sure they understand, too."

He smiled his thanks. "Maybe one day. I would love for you to meet them, and for them to meet you, to meet everyone."

She smiled back. "Yeah, that would be nice."

Hearing him speak of his family so fondly made her momentarily forget her anger at her own family.

* * *

Later, there was a knock at Kath's bedroom door, where she was trying to finish the homework she hadn't been able to finish earlier with her siblings, a George Michael record playing in the background.

"Who is it?"

"Me," came Wanda's soft voice. "May I come in?"

"Yes."

Her red-clad sister peeked in and smiled. "We started to wonder when you didn't come back to the library." Her smile fell some. "I hope you weren't too upset."

"I was - still am - a bit hurt."

"Oh, Kath, I'm sorry. We were just teasing. Maybe we took it a little too far..."

"Yeah, it's okay. You and Peter were okay, it's just Daniela..."

Wanda nodded and came to sit at the edge of Kath's bed. "I know. I think she's just excited about her relationship with Warren-"

"You think?"

Wanda chuckled. "And having him here at the school. And she's just eager to share that excitement with anyone and everyone who will listen."

"Yeah, but I really don't need any of the details."

Wanda laughed again. "I really do think you should talk to Piotr. Who knows what could happen?"

Kath sighed. "Exactly. When I'm around him I'm all flustered, at least that's how it feels, not sure if that comes across. And when I'm anxious, I lose control, and with him being all metal, I-" She trailed off.

She didn't need to continue though, Wanda understood. She reached out and placed a comforting hand over her older sister's. "I know."

"That obvious, huh?"

"Yeah, and I didn't need my powers to know that. I would still talk to him. It's obvious that you both care for each other, are good friends. Who knows..." She grinned, raising her eyebrows.

Kath smiled. "Yeah, I want to..." She always envied her twin's confidence and outgoing nature, and the way Daniela didn't seem to care when being teased, or what other people thought about her. "Thanks, Wanda."

"Anytime. Good night Sis, see you tomorrow."

"Good night."

With that, Wanda slipped from the room.

Kath shoved aside her homework - she wasn't going to get any more done tonight - and fell back against the pillows with a sigh, George still singing in the background.

Recently, she'd noticed Ellie and Yukio holding hands, meaning Ellie's going to talk to her had obviously gone well then. Whereas Kath still hadn't worked up the guts to talk to Piotr, uphold her end of the bargain. Sure, they had talked lots, just not about _that_.

She just wasn't ready - facing that meant facing her powers, and she wasn't sure when, if ever, she would be ready to face them.

_I've still got lots planned for this story - it will cover a number of years! And, haha, I was listening to George and Wham! while writing this, hence the reference ;)_

_Thank you so much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	11. Mutants at the Mall

10\. Mutants at the Mall

"We're going to ze mall!"

The Maximoff siblings jumped when Kurt suddenly appeared before them in the kitchen.

"Weren't you just at the mall, Kurt?" said Wanda.

"_Ja_, but Scott and I have a bet going for who can score ze most points in ze arcade, zo..." Kurt wrung his hands. "I've been practicing."

"I'll go as long as Peter promises not to get into anymore trouble with mall security," said Kath.

"That was totally not my fault."

"I'd love to hit the mall!" Daniela was in. "I'll go get Warren."

"I already asked him, he didn't seem interested," said Kurt.

"You asked him? Aww, you're getting over your fear of him!"

Kurt wrung his hands tighter. "He still scares me."

"I'll go talk to him."

Soon both sets of Maximoff twins, Ellie and Yukio, Jean and Scott, Kurt, Warren, Storm, and Jubilee were gathered and ready to head off to the mall.

"You should go invite Piotr, Kath," Wanda suggested.

"Oh, yes!" agreed Daniela.

"Um, well I don't see why not. You go ahead, I'll catch up."

She didn't need to look far, and found him reading in the library.

"Hi Piotr."

"Ah, hello Kath."

"A bunch of us are going to the mall, would you like to join us?"

He hesitated, and she knew what he was thinking: while most of the group's mutations were not visible, his was very noticeable. "Thank you, Kath, that's very kind of you to think of me, but I don't know."

"If it makes you feel any better, I think Daniela convinced Warren not to stuff his wings into a jacket."

He chuckled a little. "Thank you, but I think I'll pass this time. Besides, the mall isn't really my place."

"Not really mine either. I'd rather stay here and read in the library too..." That gave her an idea. "Actually, could I join you?"

"Of course."

"Instead of us all going out and you staying here all on your own."

"I would love some company."

"Okay, I'll be right back." With that, she dashed out to the front of the mansion where the group waited.

"So, is he coming?" Daniela asked.

"No, and neither am I. We're going to stay here."

"Together?"

"Yeah." Kath didn't miss the sparkle in her sister's eye.

"Alright, suit yourselves."

"Have fun - and keep Peter out of trouble!"

"Hey!"

* * *

It was incredibly empowering arriving at a public place together, facing everyone's stares together and not backing down. Just a group of mutants living their lives.

"Mutants at the mall," sang Peter.

Daniela dragged Warren to the photo booth where they took a series of photos she could put up in her room. The entire group tried to squeeze themselves into the booth for a group photo, but it didn't really work.

An intense competition between Kurt and Scott began in the arcade, the others cheering them on.

The arcade was at the end of the mall near the movie theatres, so Wanda slipped away and headed to the theatre.

The lineup at the concession stand wasn't overly long, not that she wouldn't have waited anyways. Peering over the heads of those in front of her, she smiled when she noticed Carol behind the counter.

Wanda's palms grew sweaty as she neared the front of the line. Finally, Carol's voice called, "I can help who's next."

Wanda strode right over.

"Oh, hi Wanda." Carol gave her a smile.

Wanda smiled back and glanced at Carol's name badge, even though she knew it by heart:

_Name: Carol_

_Favourite Movie: Top Gun_

Carol was super confident, chatty, and funny, and wanted to be a fighter pilot one day, which Wanda thought was just so cool.

"Hi Carol. How are you?"

"Can't complain, you?"

"Good thanks."

"What can I get you today?"

"Just a medium soda and a chocolate bar, please."

"You know, you can get drinks and snacks at the grocery store at the other end of the mall for much cheeper. Our prices are ridiculous, even I'll admit that."

Wanda grinned. "Maybe, but I like the employees here better."

"Well, glad to hear that." Carol handed over Wanda's snack and drink and Wanda handed over her money. "Thank you."

"Thank you, too. See you again soon?"

"Definitely." Wanda nodded.

"Maybe you can come during my break sometime and we can hang out and chat while I'm not scooping popcorn."

Wanda's heart fluttered. "I'd love that."

"Awesome, my long break is from 1:00-2:00 most days."

The line had grown longer behind her, so Wanda took that as a sign she should leave. She thanked Carol again and practically skipped off, though not before sneaking another glance at the cute blonde cast member.

Every time she came to the mall she tried to see Carol, which wasn't a lot, and Carol wasn't always working when she was there. But today had been lucky, and extra lucky since Carol suggested hanging out. Maybe hanging out would lead to something more... Wanda would have to talk to Daniela about dating soon. They could go on double-dates! Okay, now Wanda was getting ahead of herself.

"Hey Sis, things are getting pretty intense in the arcade! Hey, you got snacks! Now I'm hungry!" A sliver blur appeared beside her. "Anyone want to go to the food court? Kurt, Scott, you both look like you could use a food break."

Soon the whole group had pushed some tables together in the food court and poured over fast food.

"AH! I froze my brain again!" Everyone laughed as Kurt buckled over, holding his head. "Ah, Daniela! Can you help, please!"

"Okay, but don't get too close-" She held up her hand, igniting her palm, and held it in front of his head. He sighed, the brain freeze going away.

"Hey Daniela, you want to hit the record store after this?" Scott asked.

"Sure do!"

"Oh no, I'm not going there with you again," protested Jean.

"Why not?" asked Wanda.

Daniela chuckled. "Scott says she looks like Boy George from Culture Club. I mean, I think it's a compliment, he's super cool. And he's got a killer voice, and great sense of style. And he's hilarious."

Jean just rolled her eyes.

On their way to the record store, Warren paused at the glasses shop. "What do you think?" he slipped on a pair of aviator sunglasses.

"Nice shades, Babe! You look badass!" Daniela commented. "But then again, you always do."

She wasn't the only one who noticed. Some teen girls were ogling the winged mutant.

"Hey cutie, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" one said, the others dissolving into giggles.

Daniela was no stranger to having girls always be all over Warren, but that didn't mean she liked it. "Haha, very funny, cause he has angel wings. Very clever. Well I can tell you, it didn't hurt so much when I crawled up from the fires of hell-" She ignited her finger tips.

"Babe, leave the humans alone," Warren chuckled, putting an arm around her and pulling her close, away from the girls who now looked very startled and alarmed. "Don't worry about them."

"Yikes, aggressive much," mumbled Peter. Daniela just elbowed him.

"She's just defending her feelings for her boyfriend," said Wanda.

"Thank you!"

They spent a couple more hours out before all decided they'd had enough of the mall for one day.

"That was great," Daniela said on their way home. "We need to get out more often."

_This was fun to write! :) some of this was inspired by the mall deleted scenes from 'Apocalypse'! _

_I love Culture Club's music, so I was so excited when the movie made that reference! ;) _

_Yay, finally had Wanda and Carol meet - so excited for them!_

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	12. To Be in Love

11\. To Be in Love

Kath and Piotr ended up spending a wonderful, quiet afternoon together. With the library to themselves they read in comfortable, companionable silence, chatting here and there, making each other laugh. Kath loved the others, but didn't mind these quieter days. She realized then how little time alone she actually had with Piotr - sure, in passing in the halls, but they didn't usually have this long to themselves, and certainly not since she had started developing feelings for him. And she loved it.

She was just recovering from a particularly funny joke he had told her, laughing so hard her stomach hurt and tears filled her eyes. It had also been a long time since this had happened.

The last of her laughter faded, and they smiled at each other, both content, once again in comfortable silence.

Now was her chance.

_"Piotr, there's something I have to tell you: I really like you, as a friend, but also as something more... I've developed romantic feelings for you..."_ This was all she had to say. Short and simple and only the truth.

"Piotr, I-"

_RING!_

Both jumped when startled by the shrill ringing of the library telephone which abruptly cut her off. She had barely opened her mouth to speak before it interrupted her.

Piotr got up to answer it. "Hello, Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted, how may I help you?" Kath couldn't make out the words, but she could hear a lot of shouting from the other end. Piotr held the phone away from his ear. "What - _Wade? _Is that you?What is it? What are you doing?"

Kath sighed. Deadpool. Of course. Horrible timing, as usual.

Piotr received no response, as the other end of the line suddenly went silent. He stared down at the phone confused for a moment before returning it to the cradle. "He claims it was wrong number. I thought it was another prank call."

"Wonder what shenanigans he's managed to get himself into this time."

"Nothing good, I can tell you."

Well, that scare had really killed the moment. Kath was considering how she could now subtly dive into her confession, when noise filled the hallway outside, noise which turned out to be the overlapping voices of her friends and siblings.

"Still here? What have you been doing this whole time?" Daniela cried when she saw Kath and Piotr.

"We were reading and chatting."

"Oh, fun." Daniela scrunched up her nose.

"Yes, it was. How was the mall?"

"Really good! Scott bought a Culture Club record just to annoy Jean, we're going to go dance to it! And Warren tried on these super sexy sunglasses!"

Kath rolled her eyes. "Sounds fun. What about the match? Who won?"

"Kurt and Scott scored a tie!"

"Ah. So I sense another trip to the mall in the near future."

"Probably! You'll have to come - you really missed out this time."

Kath shrugged. "I was perfectly happy here."

"If you say so." The others had already headed upstairs, so Daniela followed them, leaving Kath and Piotr alone once more.

* * *

"So, you never told me about your one-on-one with Piotr yesterday."

"Get that look out of your eye." Kath shook her head. Then she took note of Daniela putting on her pyjamas. "Are you spending the night in your own room for once?"

"Warren has a test tomorrow, he has to study. I don't want to distract him."

"Since when are you such a dedicated student?"

"I can be when I want to be. Now hey, don't change the subject-" Daniela raised her eyebrows.

"What?"

"Well," her sister prompted. "What happened?"

Kath sighed. "Nothing happened."

"But you spent the afternoon together."

"Yes. So what?"

"And, what did you do?"

"We just read and chatted."

"That's it?!"

"Yes!"

"That sounds _so_ boring."

"It wasn't."

"And did you tell him how you feel?"

"Almost."

"Almost?!"

"Yeah, I was going to, but then we were interrupted."

"Well what about after that?"

"You all came back from the mall."

"Well after that?"

"It just didn't feel like the right moment!"

Daniela heaved a heavy sigh.

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Kath.

"It's just so frustrating watching you constantly throwing away any chances at love!"

"_Love_?" Kath repeated incredulously. "What do you mean _love_?"

"What you feel for Piotr."

Kath scoffed. "I don't love him, Daniela! Like him, yeah, sure, but I'm not _in love_ with him. Don't be so dramatic."

Daniela's jaw fell open. "How dare you! Don't call me dramatic!"

"Well you are! You're eighteen-"

"Almost nineteen."

"Okay almost."

"And so what has that got to do with it?"

"You're eighteen, you don't know what love is."

"Neither do you! And shame on you for saying that! I know more about it than you!"

"Oh yeah, cause that bad boy is 'the one', your 'one, true love.'" She rolled her eyes because it sounded so just that, utterly dramatic. "The man you're going to share 'happily ever after' with."

Daniela looked very hurt, but then again so was Kath. She was done with all the teasing and poking and prodding.

Daniela's expression had turned completely serious. "Yes, I think he is."

There was such honesty behind her words and they sounded so genuine it threw Kath off.

"Oh..."

"Stop being so judgemental."

Kath would have snapped back with, "you too," but was too shocked to answer.

Daniela turned to leave. "And maybe if you would stop being so silly and just tell Piotr how you feel, then you would understand."

* * *

Daniela stormed down the hall. Little flickers of flame burned around her tightly-clenched fists she was so angry. How could Kath say those things when she knew no better? And why was she being so damn stubborn and not just telling Piotr how she felt? It was as simple as that. But now Daniela was too angry to care about her sister's happiness at the moment.

The door to Warren and Kurt's room was open a crack so she didn't bother knocking, she just walked right in.

Kurt wasn't there, but Warren was seated at his desk, studying. He looked up from his books and smiled when he saw her. "Hey Babe." He immediately noticed something was wrong. "Yela, you okay?"

Daniela didn't answer, but kissed him, hard. He was quick to respond and kissed her back.

Things progressed quickly, and he pulled away for a moment. "Yela, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," she insisted, and they hastily resumed their snogging.

Oh, they were really going to have to apologize to Kurt soon.

_I've got the next few chapters planned, so there will be more coming soon! _

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed, as always! :)_


	13. The Brokenhearted

12\. The Brokenhearted

Following the sisters' argument, while Daniela went to go meet up with her boyfriend, Kath stormed down to the kitchen, her anger fuelling her hunger.

When she arrived she found the kitchen occupied - she had been hoping it would be empty. But the other person there was Piotr.

Despite the sisters' argument being about him, or at least involving him, Kath felt relieved to see him. "Hi Piotr."

"Hi Kath." He didn't return her smile, just sipped his tea quietly.

She could instantly tell something was off. He wasn't himself. "You okay?"

"Okay, _da_."

"Okay, good." She was in the middle of preparing herself some cheese and crackers when he spoke again.

"Kath, on my way to kitchen, I couldn't help but overhear you and Daniela arguing."

"Oh..."

"Is everything okay between you two?"

She was flooded by relief. "Oh, yeah, we were just disagreeing on something - again."

"I heard you say that you - well, that you like me..."

The relief she had been feeling vanished just like that. Shit - he'd overheard that? How loud had they been speaking? They had been having a heated argument...

Kath felt her cheeks go a red as Wanda's favourite leather jacket. "Oh, Piotr-"

"Is it true?"

Well, she was in it now, trapped. And it was her own damn fault. "Yes, it is..."

"But you don't love me?"

"Sorry?"

"You said you didn't love me."

Yes, she had said that, hadn't she. _"I don't love him, Daniela! Like him, yeah, sure, but I'm not in love with him..."_

"I understand. I knew it was a long shot to hope you felt the same." He stood, downing the rest of his tea and placing the empty cup in the sink.

"Goodnight, Kath." He didn't look at her as he left.

* * *

"I love you, you know."

Warren whirled around, eyes wide, jaw dropped, wings stopping mid-flutter.

Daniela sat up in bed and couldn't help but chuckle at his flabbergasted expression. "Oh, come on, don't look so surprised. You knew it. It's obvious, isn't it?"

"Um, well..." Now Warren was avoiding eye-contact and running his hand through his hair. He cleared his throat a few times, unable to speak.

"Warren?"

"I just, I - you surprised me, is all."

"But I thought it was obvious, that I was being obvious, about how I felt."

"Yeah, no, it's obvious you care-"

"Of course I care. Because I love you." Then it hit, suddenly, like a slap in the face and just as painful. "But you don't feel the same..." Her heart started to sink, and for a moment it felt like it would never stop.

"No! That's not what I'm saying!" Warren cried. "I just, I, I'm not, I don't, I don't know-"

"No, it's exactly what you're saying." Hot tears were coming on fast, so Daniela got out of bed, threw on her clothes, not caring how messy they looked, and headed for the door.

"Yela, wait, where are you going?"

Daniela ignored him, brushing past him and opening the door. Both she and Kurt jumped, finding each other on either side of the door they were both trying to go through.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt!" cried Kurt, looking between both her and Warren.

"Don't be sorry, Kurt," Daniela said, not bothering to hide her tears. "You weren't interrupting anything." With that, she left.

* * *

"So he loves you?"

"I, I guess... That's what it sounded like he was implying..." Kath kept repeating her brief yet intense conversation with Piotr over and over again in her head. She buried her face in her hands. "So now I've gone and screwed up that." She was in the middle of sharing what had happened with Wanda.

"I wouldn't say 'totally screwed up'," Wanda said.

Well, that was certainly how it felt.

"I had no idea he had feelings for me, let alone..." He loved her, Piotr _loved_ her.

"Love you," Wanda said, as though reading her mind, though Kath knew she wasn't using her powers. "And you love him?"

"I, I - I said I didn't, but maybe I..." This was all so confusing and sudden. Did she really love him? Had she loved him all this time? Had she just ruined any chance she might have with him?

This type of dorm was two bedrooms on either side of a bathroom, so one could hear through the bathroom to the other side. That was when the sisters heard a curse and crying from Daniela's side of the dorm.

Exchanging a glance, the two cut through the bathroom and peeked into Daniela's room to find her crying in her pyjamas.

"Yela, what's wrong?" cried Wanda.

"Warren doesn't love me back."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

Daniela ignored Wanda's apology and looked at Kath. "Oh don't look so satisfied."

Kath scoffed. "I wasn't! I'm sorry to hear that."

"No you're not."

"Yela-"

"Do you want to talk?" Wanda broke in, which was probably a good thing.

"Yeah, but right now I've got to get changed and go to work. So later."

"Of course, later."

"Later. Thanks Wanda." She didn't say anything to Kath.

* * *

Daniela had been feeling crappy all day, and she assumed it was her heartache. Now it was early afternoon and she felt even worse.

And even worse when a frantic angel arrived in the shop.

"Daniela!" Warren cried. "I was worried!"

"You know I have work today."

"Yeah, I know, but - can I talk to you, please?" He appeared very sheepish when he usually seemed so confident and bold.

"I need to work."

"When's your break?"

"I just had one a little while ago."

"When's your next one?"

"Half an hour."

"Okay, I'll wait then."

When her break rolled around he came back over to the counter.

She sighed. "Fine, talk."

"Not here. Could we go somewhere else?"

"I don't have very long-"

"I know. How about the park down the block?"

"I guess."

They walked in silence the one block to the park - it was awful, they were never this quiet around each other. Unusual tension hung heavy between them.

When they reached the park Daniela sat down on a bench, not feeling any better.

Warren began pacing before her, head down in concentration. "Look, I'm sorry for the way I reacted - I was just surprised was all. You said it so suddenly."

"It didn't feel that sudden."

"To me it did."

"I'm sorry." She squeezed her eyes shut; her head had begun to spin.

"Don't be. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, I just didn't know what to say in the moment. I froze, couldn't say anything - Yela, are you okay?" Now he was crouched before her, she looking rather pale all the sudden.

"I'm sorry, I'm just not feeling well..." She held her head in her hands. "I think I should get back to work."

"Okay, here I'll walk with you." They walked back, he with his hand hovering by the small of her back for support. They agreed to finish talking later that evening when she was back at the mansion, and with that he left and she continued her shift.

"Are you okay?" her boss asked her a short while later. "You don't look so good."

"I think so... I think I just need to lie down when I get home."

"No, now. Go home early, I'll cover the rest of your shift. Take it easy, Daniela."

Her head hurt and her stomach felt queasy as she waited for the bus. She soon gave up and went to the nearest phone booth, calling Kurt at the mansion. He was there in seconds and a few seconds more they were home.

"Are you alright?" he asked her. He had teleported them right outside her room.

"I think so... I'm just going to go lie down, so if anyone asks, that's where I'll be."

"Okay, I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks, Kurt."

"Warren was asking if you'd like him to come check on you later?"

"No, that's fine. I'm sure I'll be fine."

She felt into bed wondering what the hell had come over her, and why so suddenly.

* * *

Kath had barely seen Piotr all day - she would go as far as say he was avoiding her. She had also spent the whole day questioning her feelings for him.

She was pondering said feelings further when there came a knock at her door.

When she opened it, Daniela looked panicked.

Any anger she still felt towards her sister vanished. "Yela, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Though she clearly wasn't.

Daniela looked on the verge of tears. "I'm pregnant."

_Wasn't expecting to finish that chapter so soon, but I was on a role with writing! _

_Whew, lots happened this chapter! And lots more to come! ;)_

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	14. Surprise

13\. Surprise

_"I'm pregnant."  
_  
"Oh..." Kath didn't know what else to say.

Danilea nodded. "'Oh' is right."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. I took one of those tests from the drug store. And it said positive. I was feeling crappy all day, so I guess that explains it..."

"Okay... When did you do the test?"

"About an hour ago. I had to wait for the results... I've been out of it ever since."

Kath could tell. Her sister didn't look her best at the moment.

"Have you told Warren yet?"

At these words, Daniela's eyes grew wide. "No! No, not yet. I don't know what to do, Kath."

"Well, you'll have to tell him."

"I know! I just don't know how." Then she added, "I'd like to do another test - who knows, those drug store ones probably aren't very good quality... It could have been wrong."

"I'm not sure about that. But you can do another test if you want. We could even go see a doctor, just to get a clear answer."

Daniela nodded. "Okay. Yeah, let's do that, I like that idea. But I'd rather go to the hospital, not the school nurse."

"Of course. Let's go."

* * *

"What happened with you and Piotr? Tell me."

Kath sighed. "I don't know... I'm still not so sure of it myself."

"Please. Distract me."

Kath remembered that they were currently sitting in a doctors office waiting to hear if Daniela was indeed pregnant or not, so of course a distraction was understandable.

"Well, I ran into him in the kitchen and he said he overheard us arguing. Then he dropped that he, well, loves me..."

"He loves you?!"

"Yeah, apparently, I guess... But he said that after he said he overheard me say I didn't love him."

"I knew you'd regret saying that."

Kath bit back a response.

"But then again, now I regret saying that I do love him..." Kath noticed her sister's hands resting on her belly when she said this, concealing her secret.

Kath hesitated for a moment - she wasn't really sure why she hesitated, but she did - before reaching out and placing a hand over Daniela's, who, in turn, gripped her offered hand tightly.

That grip only tightened more when the door to the office opened and the doctor returned with the results.

He came and sat down at his desk before the sisters. "All right, Miss Maximoff. Your test results came back positive. You are pregnant."

Daniela wouldn't look at him, just stared at the floor, now ringing her hands forcefully.

"Thank you, Doctor," Kath stepped in. "I think my sister just needs a moment."

"Of course." The doctor politely stepped out of the room again, leaving the two sisters.

Daniela choked back a sob, burying her face in her hands.

"Hey, don't cry, it's okay." Kath wrapped an arm around her.

"Now I have to tell him," Daniela blubbered.

"Yes, you do."

Finally, Daniela looked up. "But what do I do now?"

"Tell him first. The baby is his child too, you can both discuss where to go from here."

Daniela nodded, but looked distant, not bothering to wipe away her tears.

"Do you have any idea of how you think he'll react?"

"Kind of... Well not really, now... But neither of us are in a position for..." She shook her head. "We were always careful. Though not careful enough, obviously."

"It's going to be okay, Yela," Kath assured her.

Daniela only nodded.

* * *

When they returned to the mansion, Daniela decided to tell Peter and Wanda first before Warren.

It was easy to tell them. They were just as surprised as Kath.

"Well, I mean, is it really any wonder?" said Peter, breaking the shocked silence that followed Daniela's declaration.

Daniela punched his arm. "We always used protection."

"Yeah, but you were having a lot, like,_ a lot _of-"

"Shut up, Peter," Wanda ordered her twin. She turned back to Daniela. "How do you feel?"

Daniela wrung her hands. "Nervous. Panicked. I don't know..."

"I'm sure that's perfectly common." Wanda took her hands and held them in her own. "We're here for you. And so is Warren."

"Is he?"

"Of course he is."

"He doesn't love me back..."

"You don't know that for sure."

Daniela wasn't convinced. "You should have seen the way he looked at me after I said it."

"You probably just surprised him. Now, you have to tell him about the baby before you move forward with this, whatever route you choose to take."

When the time came to finally tell him - she knew she couldn't put it off any longer - her siblings came with her, a trio of support.

They found him in the entrance hall. Warren recognized that something was up right away. "Hey, you all right?"

"I'm okay."

"Are you feeling any better? I was getting worried."

"Sort of, not really... Something else came up..." She looked up at him, taking in all his features that she loved. She didn't want to lose him.

"Do you feel up to finishing our talk?"

"Not really."

"Okay, that's fine. I want you to feel better before we talk about it."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Do you think you should maybe go see a doctor?"

She chuckled a little. "I did, actually."

"Oh, and?"

"And, well, there's something else I have to tell you now..."

"Oh?"

Now she froze up, so close to having to speak the words, to tell him the truth.

"Yela, what's wrong? Please tell me."

"Nothing's 'wrong' really. At least I don't think it's 'wrong'."

He was clearly confused. "Okay... What is it, then?"

"I'm, I'm, well we're, I'm-" She paused and cleared her throat.

"It's okay, Daniela," Kath said from where the siblings stood behind their sister. "Take your time."

"I'm pregnant," Daniela blurted.

His expression turned into one that almost exactly mirrored the one from when she had told him she loved him. "O-oh..."

"Yeah..." She hadn't been expecting much more of a reaction. But his was very difficult to read there in that moment.

He swallowed hard. "How long have you known?"

"Less than a day."

"Oh..." He ran a hand through his hair.

She wanted him to say something more so badly.

"I-I -" He cut himself off. Then, instead of trying to continue, he turned and was out the door before she could barely blink.

"Warren!" She dashed after him, her siblings dashing after her, out the door and into the front driveway, she watching as he flew off. "Warren!" she cried, but he was gone.

She turned to face her siblings before breaking down, devastated.

_Another cliffhanger! I've begun writing the next chapter so more should come soon! :)_

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	15. Warren's Story

14\. Warren's Story

Peter was gonna kill that bird-boy.

He had slipped away while Kath and Wanda were tending to Daniela in the kitchen, making her some tea and trying to calm her down.

No one just abandoned his sister like that. No one. Especially not the boy she loved.

It didn't take Peter long to track Warren down - he just followed the confused people to where the leather-clad, angel-winged mutant was wandering the streets of New York, pacing, one hand jammed in his pocket, the other tearing through his hair. He looked conflicted, to say the least.

Peter knew Daniela would in turn kill him if she knew he was currently stalking her boyfriend, stalking his prey, but the devastated look she had given him, Wanda, and Kath after Warren left - after he fled, ran away - said everything.

Peter had by now followed Warren undetected to Central Park. He watched the other boy dig in his pocket for some coins and then approach a flower stand.

Huh, perhaps this was promising...

Warren picked out a lovely bouquet of pink and orange flowers. Well, he knew Daniela's favourite colour obviously, not that it was much of a mystery, as she always wore at least something orange.

But Peter became puzzled when Warren continued on, now walking with purpose, in the opposite direction of the way to the mansion, fresh bouquet in-hand. Peter continued to follow close behind, curious now and wanting to get to the bottom of this.

He followed Warren all the way to the Central Cemetery. What the hell was he doing here?

Warren waltzed right through the gates and through the lines of graves - he seemed to know where he was going.

He stopped before a grave. Peter squinted to read the name. The letters were bold - the gravestone didn't appear to be very old.

_Kathryn Worthington_

Warren bowed his head, curls falling into his face. "Hi, Mom."

Now Peter felt awful - what was he doing? He had to get out of here.

Warren knelt before the grave, brushing some grass aside. The gravesite looked well-kept, which probably meant his father had been here recently. Warren cringed at the thought but then turned back to thoughts of his mother. "I'm sorry, I know it's been way too long since I visited last. Lots has happened lately, lots has changed..." He sat down cross-legged before the gravestone, laying the flowers down before it and brushing the hair out of his eyes - if his mother were here now, she would have brushed it away for him. They had shared the same golden curls.

He launched into telling her everything: Daniela always coming to support him during the cage-fights, him starting school at the mansion, his new friends, his new life. And Daniela, he told her all about his fiery - no pun intended - girl.

And, of course, about the major news she had just given him.

"And now I'm gonna the a dad and I'm so nervous - but an excited nervous... I really wish you were here, you'd know exactly what to do." This would all be easier if she were here now. "You'd love Daniela, Mom. She's so confident and sure of herself, and kind and caring and supportive, to everyone, just like you always were. You two would get along well, I know it. I love her. I love her. I _love_ her... God, it's been so long since I've said that. I love her..." He found himself beaming.

He paused before wrapping his arms around the gravestone. "Thanks, Mom. I love you."

He grabbed an orange flower from the bunch before flying off - he had to get back to the mansion.

* * *

"The look on his face..." Daniela hadn't touched her tea. It was cold when Peter got back.

She buried her face in her hands, looking as though she may burst into tears again. Her siblings didn't blame her. "I don't want to do this alone."

"Hey-" Kath placed her hand on her sister's arm in a supportive gesture. "You are _not_ alone in this. You've got me, Peter, Wanda-"

"And me."

The siblings turned to see Warren standing in the doorway.

"Warren-" Daniela jumped to her feet.

"Careful," urged her sisters.

The usually so-confident Warren appeared sheepish. "Can I talk to you, please?"

Daniela nodded and they left the kitchen together.

"We'll be here if you need us," Kath called after her.

"Where did you disappear to?" Wanda whispered to Peter.

"Nowhere."

Daniela let Warren lead the way. Soon the couple were walking around the school grounds.

"Are you okay?" he finally asked after a few minutes of silence between them.

"Okay, yeah... How about you?"

"Better."

"Oh, good..."

"Yeah. I was visiting my mom."

"Oh." She had never heard him speak of either of his parents. She had always thought he was an orphan living on the streets. "Where is she?"

She had been expecting an address, or even simply, 'at her house'. She was not expecting it when he said, "the Central Cemetery."

Her heart wrenched. "Oh, Warren - I'm so sorry-"

"You didn't know, I never said."

"Still, I'm sorry. I know how that is."

"Yeah, thanks. Her name was Kathryn, she was wonderful." He was smiling fondly now. That smile dropped, however, with his next words. "My father - he isn't a good man. He hates mutants - _hates_ them. My mom always called me 'Angel' even before I got my wings - almost like she knew. She died when I was ten, and they started growing when I was in my early teens, and knowing my father and how he would react, I tried cutting them off-" He flinched at the memory.

"Oh, Warren-" She reached out and took his hand, holding it tightly in both of her own.

"I know. He found out, of course. These things aren't exactly easy to hide. He cut me off, kicked me out, and I've been on my own ever since. Well, until I met you." He suddenly remembered the flower in his hand - the gift from him and his mother. "This is for you. I got a bouquet to take to Mom. She would want you to have it."

"Thank you." She accepted the offering. "It's my colour."

"Yeah, exactly." Now he took both of her hands in his. "I'm sorry I ran off, so sorry. I panicked, didn't know what to do. I didn't mean to scare you, and you have every reason to be upset with me. But I want you to know, I had nothing and no one until I met you. And now we're having a baby - Daniela, I've never been so happy."

"Really?"

"Really. I've faced very little love in my lifetime, and the love I did have I always lost."

"I was so worried I was going to lose you!"

"I know, and I'm sorry I freaked out."

"Don't be! I'm freaking out too!"

"Well then I'm sorry for scaring you. I'm here for you, always. I love you." He'd said them, the words he'd realized, worrying he was too late.

Her eyes grew wide. "You do?"

"Yes. And I should have said it so much sooner. I love you." He loved it the more and more he said it. _I love you. I love you... _

She grinned. "Well, you'll have lots of time to make up for it."

He chuckled. "Good."

"So, does this mean you want to have the baby?"

"Yes, as long as you do."

"Yes, I've been thinking about it a lot, and I do, want this, with you. And by the sounds of it, we both have broken families, and now we have the chance to have our own whole family."

"Yes, and that sounds wonderful."

"Yeah, it does." Both were smiling now. "I love you, Warren."

"I love you too, Yela. And, I also love you, too." He knelt down so that he was eye-level with her stomach. "Our little one. You're not going to be too embarrassed if Mummy and Daddy start kissing now, are you?"

Daniela giggled - he was so adorable.

Even if their child was embarrassed by it, they shared a long, passionate kiss, whispering 'I love yous' in between kisses and breaths.

They would never stop saying it, nor would they ever stop believing it.

_Yay, happy moment for two of our lovers! ;) Aww, Warren's story though :.( His story will play into the overall plot a lot more later on!_

_Thank you so much for supporting this story! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	16. More Surprises

15\. More Surprises

"Good morning everyone!" A very-smiley Daniela greeted her siblings the next morning upon entering the kitchen, Warren in tow, looking equally happy.

"Good morning," Kath answered. "You both seem in good spirits."

"We are!" The couple shared a long, loving look. "We have a full day planned," Daniela explained. "We're going baby shopping!"

"You've only been pregnant for like a day," Peter reminded her.

"We're eager to get started. I made a list and everything. We probably won't buy anything quite yet, but just look around to get an idea of what's out there, our options."

"Good to be prepared," agreed Kath.

"Thank you!"

"Where are you going shopping?" Wanda asked.

"The mall."

"Oh, can I come with you? I mean, head over with you, then go off to do my own thing?" She was certain this was one of the days during Carol's schedule where she had a longer break.

"Sure."

"Thanks."

"You can help us go over the list on the way."

They ate breakfast together before Wanda, Daniela, and Warren headed out.

"I'm glad they sorted things out," said Kath.

"Yeah, me too," agreed Peter. Looked like he wasn't going to have to deal with bird-boy after all.

Saying this reminded Kath about her own 'romantic' situation that she had yet to sort out.

* * *

When the trio arrived at the mall, Daniela and Warren headed to one end to the department store, while Wanda headed in the opposite direction to the far end, where the movie theatre was.

"Take your time, we can meet back home," Wanda told them. "No rush."

"Okay, have fun!"

"Thanks, you too. Good luck with the baby shopping."

"Thanks!"

However, when she arrived at the theatre, Wanda was greeted by a startling sight:

The doorway was blocked off, surrounded by security guards and fire fighters. From what she could see, the concession stand and lobby behind them was all burned up and destroyed.

What happened here?

_Carol! _

Wanda rushed forward. A crowd of equally-confused guests had assembled before the barricaded doors.

"Sorry folks, but the theatre is closed until further notice," one fireman announced. This received confused and frustrated muttering from the crowd.

"Excuse me, what happened?" Wanda asked one of the security guards.

"Strange random fire."

"Oh no! Was anyone hurt?"

"Some minor injuries. One employee was caught up in it pretty bad though, poor girl."

Wanda gulped. "Do you happen to know her name?"

"Her I.D. said Carol Danvers."

Wanda's stomach dropped. "Oh, oh no..."

"You know her?"

"Yeah, she's a, a - friend..."

"The ambulance took her to the hospital about half an hour ago. Not sure if she's allowed visitors yet, but you can try."

"Thank you."

Looked like her visit to the mall had turned into a visit to the hospital.

* * *

"Aww, this is so cute!" Meanwhile, in the nursery section of the mall's main department store, Daniela and Warren were currently looking at baby clothes. "I wonder if we'll have a boy or a girl... That would make this a little easier," Daniela admitted as she scanned through the assortment of shirts, pants, and dresses.

"Yela, come feel this blanket, it's so soft. I might have to get one of these." Warren ran his hand over and over across the surface of a blue baby blanket.

"Cozy," she agreed.

There was so much here it was almost overwhelming. They hadn't even looked at their list yet. That, and honestly, they really didn't have much idea of what they were doing, let alone where to start.

"Oh, we should definitely get these." Warren held up a pair of tiny black lace-up booties. "Then we can match." He kicked up his foot to display his own leather boots beside the baby ones.

"Aww, you can be matching! I'll add them to the list." Daniela rifled through her bag for a pen. As she was doing so, she caught sight of a familiar face over the displays. She had to do a double-take just to be sure. "Oh, God..."

"What?" asked Warren. She jerked her head in the direction of a tall, serious, dark-haired man in a trench coat and fedora making his way briskly through the aisles of the store. "Who-"

"That's my dad!" she hissed.

"Really?!"

"Yeah!"

"Oh... What's he doing here?"

"I have no idea. But my father _cannot_ see me here with my boyfriend in the baby section of the department store!" This was not how she wanted her father and boyfriend to meet. And after the last time she saw him at the super-awkward lunch, she didn't want to see him again anytime soon, especially not just running into him randomly out and about.

She grabbed Warren's hand and dragged him through the display of prams. "What's he even doing at the mall anyways?" Ducking down, they watched as Erik cut sharply through the nursery section and out the main mall-entry doors of the department store. "Come on-"

"What, we're going to follow him?"

"Yeah, come on."

Slowly, and hopefully subtly, they followed Erik out of the store, and baby shopping quickly became Dad-stalking.

They followed him all the way to the third floor, where they lost track of him.

"Where'd he go?" Daniela scanned the crowd and shop fronts.

Warren tapped her arm. "I think that's our answer."

"What?"

"To what he's doing here." Warren nodded to Erik - and the professor.

Daniela's jaw dropped. "What the-"

But it was definitely the professor, who gave Erik a small smile as the other man joined him at a table in the inner-mall cafe.

"I thought you said they hated each other," said Warren.

"Well, they're definitely not on good terms. Or at least that's what I thought..."

They proceeded to watch Erik and Xavier chat while looking over menus.

"I feel weird," Daniela finally said. "Watching them like this."

"Good, so do I," Warren agreed.

Together they left, both utterly confused.

* * *

When Wanda arrived at the hospital - she had spent the whole bus ride over chewing her nails nervously, and the traffic hadn't helped - she practically ran up to the front desk.

"Excuse me, I'm here to see one of your new patients."

"Name of patient?" the receptionist asked.

"Carol Danvers."

"Yes. Here she is. Are you family of hers?"

"Um, no, I'm not," Wanda admitted.

"I'm sorry, the doctors aren't allowing any visitors besides family at the moment."

Wanda held back a heavy sigh. "Has anyone else visited her yet?"

"No, not yet. And you will be able to eventually. You can even have a seat here in the waiting room and we'll call you if the doctor says visitors are allowed."

Wanda felt defeated. "There's no way I could just see her to make sure she's all right?"

The lady gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, honey, but doctor's orders."

Wanda nodded. "I'll have a seat then, thank you."

"No need." Wanda turned at the familiar voice to see the professor wheeling into the lobby. "This young lady is with me, she is one of my students. We would like to see Miss Danvers now please."

The receptionist was on her feet in seconds. "Of course, right this way, Sir." She gestured through a double-doorway, waving them onward.

"Thank you, Professor," Wanda said once they were through.

"Of course, my dear."

"Did you use your powers on her?"

"Only a little." He winked.

"How did you know to come here?"

"I sensed something, something that left me curious."

"Mall security said it was a fire."

"See, that's where I'm uncertain."

"What do you think it was?"

Xavier stopped in front of a room which Wanda guessed was Carol's. "A mutation."

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	17. Love All Around

16\. Love All Around

"Well that was just really weird," Daniela remarked as they waited for the bus outside the mall. What on earth had her father and the professor been doing at the mall cafe together?

Suddenly, she felt Warren stiffen beside her, breaking her out of her thoughts. "What is it?"

"I just really hate that guy," he mumbled. The bus had arrived, the side of the bus plastered with a Worthington anti-mutant advertisement.

She wrapped an arm around him. "Me too."

* * *

Kath stood before Piotr's door, hesitating to knock. She had never been so nervous to talk to him before.

What was she going to say? She knew what she wanted to say, but was sure all her carefully thought-out words would surely turn to mush as soon as she faced him.

Which is exactly what happened. When she finally knocked and he opened the door, they stood silently staring at each other, and all that she had wanted to say slipped from her mind.

"Can I talk to you?" she finally said.

"_Da_."

"Is this an okay time?"

"_Da_. You can come in." He opened the door fully to let her inside. His dorm was neat and tidy, everything organized and with its own place. Not that she expected any different from him.

Piotr sat down on the edge of his bed while Kath remained standing.

"First of all, I wanted to say I'm sorry. I had no idea you felt that way."

"Then it is my fault. I was not so clear."

"Daniela kept going on and on about it, and that got on my nerves, and I just snapped at her, maybe said some things in the heat of the moment that I didn't quite mean..." Now Kath wrung her hands. "I'm so sorry, Piotr."

"It's okay."

"But it's not. Ugh, I'm just so nervous."

"Why, Kath?" he asked gently. Piotr, always gentle. The gentle giant. Her gentle giant crush. "Why are you nervous?"

"Because I'm scared I'll hurt you," she finally admitted, though it wasn't as much of a relief as she had hoped it would be, unfortunately. She had always known, deep down, that this was the reason. She had admitted it to herself long ago, but not to anyone else, and definitely not to him. But he should know, and it was about time.

She held up both hands and curled them into tight fists as if for emphasis. "You know that I don't have full or even partial control over my powers, and with you being all metal I just don't think that would be a good mix. And I feel so overwhelmed when I'm around you - in a good way - but it's moments like those where I tend to lose control - the little control I have."

"Oh, Kath. I'm sorry, I had no idea you felt this way."

"Don't be sorry. I was the one keeping it hidden." She sighed. "The truth is, I like you Piotr. A lot. I think I - I think I love you..."

Her words clearly shocked him. "_Really_?"

"Yes. You seem surprised."

"_Da_, I am. I always hoped you would see me beyond my mutation..."

His words hurt - he thought she wouldn't like him because of his mutation. She never knew him to be so self conscious. "Oh Piotr, no, don't think like that. Of course I like you beyond your mutation. How could I not?" Her words made him smile.

And she had thought only her mutation was standing in their way - he clearly felt the same about his own. "I just don't want to hurt you."

"You won't. I know you won't."

"I can't make any promises on that, I'm afraid."

"I'm not asking you to. I'm just asking that you have faith in yourself as I do. I don't want to hurt you either."

"You could never."

He reached out and took her hand gently in his. "May I do something? It's something I've been wanting to do for a some time..."

"Sure, what is it?"

"May I kiss you?"

It was so like Piotr to ask permission, and she fell a lot more in love with him there in that moment for it.

She chuckled. "Yes, you may. I would love that."

"You would?"

"Yes!"

He began to lean forward - Kath's heart was thundering madly.

"Is this all right?" He whispered.

"Yes."

"And with your powers?"

"Yes, so far so good." In fact, she hadn't even been thinking of her powers.

"Good, I'm glad." With that, he closed the remaining distance between them. They stayed like that, lips connected, for a few moments before both pulled away, both flushed and breathless.

"Can I tell you something?" he asked.

"Of course, anything."

"I must admit, that was my first kiss."

He was so adorable. "Mine too."

"Really? How was it?" Now he appeared nervous.

She was grinning widely now. "Perfect."

He smiled too. "_Da_, it was. How do you feel?"

"Overwhelmed, but it a wonderful way."

Yes, there was no denying it now or anymore - Katharina Maximoff was in love with Piotr Rasputin.

* * *

Wanda came home very upset.

"There was a fire at the movie theatre. I was hoping to meet a - friend there, but she was taken to the hospital. Well, mall security thought t was a fire, but the professor thought it was a mutation - _her_ mutation." She sat on her bed, recalling the events of the day to her sisters.

"The professor was there?" Daniela thought back to him and her father sitting in the mall cafe together. Xavier must have left shortly after she and Warren had.

"Yes, he got the hospital staff to let us in."

"Did you know she was a mutant?"

"I had no idea."

"Who is she?"

"Carol Danvers."

"You like her." Daniela recognized the signs right away.

"Like, like her like her?" clarified Kath.

"Yes!" cried Daniela.

"I was asking Wanda."

"Yes," confirmed Wanda.

"Aw, our Wanda has a crush!"

"Yes," Wanda admitted. "A big one."

"So sweet! Now I know why you wanted to join us at the mall!" Daniela winked and nudged her younger sister. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks, Yela."

"You should bring her flowers and a card to the hospital."

"Yeah, I was thinking of that too."

"Can I help you pick them out?!"

Wanda chuckled. "Of course."

"Did you get to see her in the hospital then?" asked Kath.

"See her, yes, but she was asleep, so we didn't get to talk. I was going to go back tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan."

Wanda turned to her orange-clad sister. "How was baby shopping?"

"Good - kind of overwhelming honestly. There's so much stuff to think about! Good thing it's still early. How about you, Kath? How was your day?"

"Good, yeah, good."

"What did you get up to?"

"Well, I talked to Piotr..."

"Oh! And, how did it go? Did you apologize for breaking his heart?"

"Daniela!" cried Wanda.

"What? It's true."

Kath rolled her eyes. "Yes, I did. And told him I love him back-" Both sisters' jaws dropped. "-And we came to an understanding - and he kissed me." Now she was beaming.

Daniela gave a shrill squeal. "Your first 'I love you'! Your first kiss! Details, Kath! We want details!"

Kath just rolled her eyes - typical Daniela.

_Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)_


	18. A Warm Welcome

17\. A Warm Welcome

"Wanda?"

"Hi Carol."

The blonde groaned. "W-what happened?"

"How much do you remember?"

"I was at work, and my hands started hurting - burning. And glowing. Then there was all this bright light and - that's it..." She trailed off.

"Carol, this is my sister, Daniela." The red-head waved. "And this is Professor Xavier, the headmaster at my boarding school."

Charles gave Carol his kind and caring smile. "Hello, Ms. Danvers, I'm Charles Xavier from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Wanda and Daniela are a couple of my students. I understand that something strange has happened."

"Yeah... I'm sorry, but how is the headmaster of a boarding school going to help me."

Charles smiled. "Because I run a very special school for very special people. And that includes you."

* * *

When Kath entered the kitchen for lunch, she found her metal man already there.

Piotr's lips broke out into a huge smile. "Hi Kath!"

"Hi Piotr," she chuckled. She instantly blushed as her mind conjured the memory of their kiss - their perfect first kiss.

"How are you today?"

"Good thanks, you?"

"Good, _da_. Thank you."

They both chuckled, unsure of what else to say, and just staring at each other.

"May I kiss you again?"

"You read my mind - maybe you're also a telepath. You don't have to ask, either, but I love that you do."

"Are you feeling okay? Your powers?"

"Yeah, all good."

And they were kissing again, right there in the kitchen. Where anyone could walk in and see them...

A loud, dramatic gasp pulled them abruptly apart.

"Excuse me, but when did this happen?! Oooo, tell me everything, all the details!" Deadpool slid onto one of the counter stools, chin in his hands, legs swinging, expectantly waiting for a story.

"Wade," cried Piotr. "What are you doing here?"

"Was in the area, thought I'd pop in and say hi. So, you two finally did something about it, huh?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"About your super-obvious feelings for each other. Thank God, that was painful to watch, you two dancing around each other all the time. Like, just kiss already!"

"Way ahead of you there," said Kath.

Wade gasped again. "Well, don't just leave me hanging like that! Give me the details - and don't leave any goodies out!"

Kath rolled her eyes. "You're worse than my sister with your prying."

"Leave Kath alone, Wade."

"It's fine, Piotr, I'll just ignore him.

"If only that were easy to do," sighed Piotr.

* * *

"I-I don't understand. You're saying that I'm a mutant?" Xavier nodded. "But, at the theatre, that was a fire-"

"Unintentionally conjured by you. And I don't think it was quite a fire, but more of an energy blast."

"So wait, you're all mutants?"

"Yes."

Carol was silent for a moment before she scoffed. "My parents are going to kill me."

Now her three visitors shared a glance.

"We don't get along," she filled them in. "And they hate mutants. Lapped up all that Worthington crap."

"I see."

"So thanks for the offer, but good luck getting them to agree to send me to an all-mutant school. I would sign for myself, but I'm only seventeen."

"Well, we wouldn't have to give them all the details," said Wanda. "I mean, not tell them it's a school for mutants, but for the gifted."

"Well said, Wanda. I think you should be our new student recruiter." Xavier smiled before turning back to Carol. "Give it some thought, Miss Danvers. I know this is a lot to take at once."

"That's right, it is, but I'm totally sold. I'm all for it, so long as I don't have to live at home."

Wanda's heart wrenched - not that she knew Carol well, but she never would have guessed her clearly difficult home life.

"Think on it. We can discuss this further once you're released from the hospital. But for now, I will leave you. It was nice meeting you, Miss Danvers."

"You too. Thanks Professor."

With that, Xavier wheeled out of the room.

"Hi," Carol said.

"Hi," Wanda replied. "I understand if you don't feel up to visitors right now-"

"No, please stay."

Wanda smiled. "Of course." She gestured to the flowers and card on the table. "We brought these - Yela helped me pick them out."

"Thank you, that's so sweet."

"Our pleasure! I'll leave you two to chat. Nice to meet you, Carol!" Daniela called, giving Wanda a thumb's up before slipping out of the room.

* * *

"Hey! It's Negasonic Teenage Coolest Name Ever!" Wade cried when Ellie and Yukio entered the kitchen.

"Hey! It's Douchepool."

"Ellie!" cried Piotr. "See Wade, you are bad influence."

"Oh please, she talked that way long before we met!"

"Well don't encourage, please."

"Who's this?" Wade nodded to Yukio.

"Wade, Yukio. Yukio, Wade," Ellie introduced.

"Hi Wade!"

"Hi Yukio!"

"She's my girlfriend."

"Wow, romance is in the air around here! You and Yukio, these two-"

"Wait, what? When did this happen?" cried Ellie.

"Yesterday."

"You finally talked to him!" cried Ellie. "Took you long enough, Kath."

"I agree," said Wade.

"Did you just agree with me?"

"Don't get used to it."

* * *

"I have become aware of the dramatic shift in your situation. A big change," Xavier said, eyeing Warren and Daniela from across his desk. He had called the couple into his office for a mysterious meeting - although they guessed they knew what it was about. Not so mysterious after all.

"Um, what do you mean, Professor?" Daniela asked, after sharing a glance with her boyfriend.

"I'm referring to your pregnancy, Daniela."

"Oh, yeah..." She and Warren joined hands. "Who told you?"

"No one. I sensed the developing mind and life form before you realized, but I felt it would be best if you discovered it on your own. It wasn't my place to interfere. But, now that you do know about it, I wanted to discuss it with you."

"We were careful," Daniela said.

"I believe that you were."

"We didn't mean for this to happen - but that doesn't mean we won't love the baby."

"I wouldn't suggest that it would mean that. Have you discussed it all, then?"

The couple shared another glance and nodded. "We want to keep the baby, we've decided on that much," Daniela informed him.

"Family is important to us, and neither of us have had ideal parental situations," added Warren.

Xavier nodded. "Have you told any adults?"

"We are adults-"

"Any adults older than yourselves, Daniela?"

"No. You're the first. But my siblings know."

"You're not gonna kick us out, are you?" Warren asked suddenly.

"No, of course not, I'm sorry you even had to ask," Xavier assured him. "Your family will be welcome here, you and your child have a place within this school, rest assured."

"Thank you, Professor."

"Of course. But I do hope you realize how big this is, how life-changing."

"We do, Professor. And we have lots of time to prepare."

"Good. And you will have lots of support. Myself included."

"Thank you, Sir."

"You're welcome. You may leave."

He stopped them again right before they stepped out of the office.

"Daniela, you haven't told your father yet, then?"

His question struck her. "He hasn't even met Warren."

Xavier just nodded.

She hadn't even thought about telling her father. It hadn't even crossed her mind.

_Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)_


	19. A Situation

18\. A Situation

"Well, that was awkward," Warren declared as they left the Professor's office.

"Yeah, tell me about it. But at least he's on our side," Daniela said as they headed to the kitchen.

"He's right though, what about your Dad?"

"To be completely honest I totally forgot about that. I don't know, I don't really want to think about it..."

"What happened?" Kath asked them when they entered the kitchen.

"We just had the sex talk with the Professor."

"Really?"

"Isn't it kinda late for that now?" piped up Peter, who was making himself a sandwich while still chewing the last of his first one. "Doesn't that defeat the purpose?"

"Peter," warned Kath.

"Yeah, does he ever shut up?" said Warren, feathers ruffling in annoyance.

"Just ignore him, that's what I do." Daniela rolled her eyes.

Peter shrugged. "I'm just saying."

"Well, it was sort of a sex talk. He talked to us about our situation now that I'm pregnant-"

"He knows?"

"Yeah. He said he could sense the baby before I even knew I was pregnant."

"Weird." Peter scrunched up his nose.

"World's most powerful telepath is right."

"Um, perhaps I will leave - this is obviously a personal matter..." The deep, booming voice of Piotr reminded them that while they all knew the context of the situation, he did not. He was blushing.

"Oh, sorry Piotr-" Kath shot a glance towards her sister. She wasn't sure who Daniela and Warren wanted to share their news with yet.

"It's fine," Daniela assured her. "Warren and I are having a baby, Piotr. It's very new, so not many people outside the family know."

"Oh, well my congratulations to you both - I think?" He quickly added.

The couple shared a smile. "Yes, thank you. All is well."

"Good. My congratulations then."

"Thanks man," said Warren.

"Where's Wanda?" asked Kath.

"Hospital." Now Peter was eating an apple, his second sandwich gone, the only evidence of there ever having been one being some crumbs on his jacket.

"Again?" said Warren. "Wasn't she just there."

"Yes, but she's visiting Carol, her crush," Daniela explained. "Carol might start up at the school."

"What school? This school?" said Peter.

"Yes, dumbass. This school."

"Well, you could have been more specific."

"She's mutant?" Warren asked.

"Yes, but her powers just started to manifest. It's sad, she said she and her parents don't get along, it sounds like she has a pretty rough home life."

"Crappy family life? Well, she can join the club here - OW!" Peter cried when Kath smacked him not-so-lightly on the arm.

"Pietro Maximoff!"

"Hey! No using my real name!"

"Then don't say stuff like that!" she scolded. "And certainly don't joke about it!"

"Well, he does have a point," said Daniela.

"Yela!"

"Oh come on, Piotr's the only one in this room with both parents in the picture and a stable home life and Warren was on his own."

"Yeah, I never really had family," Warren quickly added.

Peter held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, she'll fit right in." He zipped out of the kitchen, apple in hand, before Kath could scold him again.

Before they left the kitchen, Daniela cornered Kath. "So there's this pub that Warren and I liked to go to after his cage fights downtown, it's run by mutants, a safe space for us to go. Like the school, only cooler. Anyway, we haven't been in a while and were planning on going tonight and I was thinking we could make it a double date with you and Piotr!" Her eyes shone excitedly.

"Yela, you're pregnant."

"So?"

"You really want to go to a pub?"

"Just because it's a pub doesn't mean I have to drink anything! The food is good, too."

"Thanks, but I don't know. I mean, Piotr and I haven't even gone on a date yet. I don't even know if we're dating or not."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we've confessed our feelings to each other, but that's it really."

"And kissed!"

"Okay, that too. But that doesn't necessarily mean we're dating, does it?"

Daniela shrugged. "Sounds like it to me, but that's just me. It can be whatever you want it to be. You can even be friends with benefits if you want, but the fact that you two love each other tells me something else."

"Okay..."

"Yeah, so get on it! I want to go on double dates! Meanwhile, Warren and I will go on a date ourselves, so I'm not complaining."

Kath just rolled her eyes as usual.

* * *

_Ring! Ring! Ring!  
_

"I'LL GET IT!"

Peter zipped down the hall and retrieved the ringing phone. "Hello? Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. This is not Professor Xavier speaking."

A voice he wasn't expecting to hear answered back.

* * *

"That was nice, it's been too long since we've spent the evening out," Daniela said as she and Warren returned to the mansion from their date.

"It was. And it has," he agreed.

"And in all honesty, I was glad Kath and Piotr didn't join us tonight."

He chuckled. "Me too."

"Going to the pub reminds me of sneaking out to meet you," she reminisced. "Although I am very glad to have you in the safety of the mansion now."

"Honestly, so am I."

"And now you're just right down the hall, not all the way across the city."

They shared a kiss, one that was quickly interrupted.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt..."

"Peter," sighed Daniela. "What are you doing lingering?"

"I heard you come in, and came to get you, and I didn't realize you'd be in the middle of sucking each other's faces off."

Daniela sighed and rolled her eyes. Brothers. "Get us for what?"

"We've called an emergency family meeting - Warren included."

"O-oh, okay..." Sharing a confused glance, the couple followed him into the library where Kath and Wanda already stood.

"Wan, how was Carol?"

"Better, thanks." Wanda gave a small smile.

"What's all this about?"

"We have a bit of a situation," Kath explained.

"I'd say it's more of a full situation, not a bit," said Peter.

"What do you mean?"

Her siblings exchanged a glance before answering.

"Dad's coming to visit."

_I think we can all guess how Erik will react! Some drama is on the way!_

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	20. Big News

19\. Big News

_"Dad's coming to visit."_

"Oh..."

"Yeah..."

"He says he's got a break from business, whatever the hell that means," said Wanda. "He wants to meet with us but apparently doesn't have time for a lunch outing."

"Well, thank goodness for that. But what about-" Daniela placed her hands on her belly.

"Yeah, what about that?" agreed Peter. "That's the big question."

The siblings shared a silent, concerned glance - no one knew the answer to the so-called 'big question'.

Looked like she would have to start thinking about how to break to news to him after all.

* * *

"Here, wear this-" Peter tossed an oversized hoodie at Daniela.

"I'm not even showing yet. It's too early for that."

"Still, good to take precaution."

"I would never wear this - he'll know something's up."

It was a couple of days later, and Dad was coming to the mansion for a visit. After a long discussion, Daniela and Warren had decided against telling Erik about the baby today - they had nine months, so lots of time.

A family tea at the school proved to be just as, if not more, awkward than their lunch outings. For one thing, no one knew what to say - especially when all but one knew the big secret that was not being addressed.

"Hey-" Kath smacked Peter's wrist when he reached for another chocolate biscuit. "There were two for each of us and now you've eaten more than half."

"No one else is eating any."

"Dad would you like one?" Kath held the plate out to Erik.

"No, thank you, Dear."

"See." Peter snatched another one.

After a painful near twenty minutes - that felt more like hours - filled with very little conversation, Daniela sighed and got to her feet. "This is ridiculous. I'll be right back."

She returned a few minutes later with Warren, the professor, and Piotr.

"You're sure about this?" Warren asked softly.

"We have to tell him sometime. And the longer we wait to tell him the more angry he'll be, I just know it."

"I'm sorry, has something happened?" asked the confused Erik.

Kath was eyeing her sister. _You're sure? _her gaze said. Daniela nodded.

Holding tightly onto Warren's hand, she turned to Erik. "Dad, this is Warren, my boyfriend, who I told you about. Everyone else in the room already knows this, but we're having a baby."

Dead silence followed her confession. No one dared look at Erik. However, his expression appeared rather neutral, strangely enough.

"How long have you known?" he asked, a near whisper.

"Not long, it's very new."

Silence again. That was, until the metal tea service began to tremble on the coffee table.

"Please tell me that's your doing," Peter said to Kath.

"It's not."

"Shit..."

With that, a teaspoon shot past them, embedding itself in the wall.

Erik was now on his feet, looking upon his daughter in anger. "How could you be so irresponsible?"

"Me, irresponsible? Oh you're really one to talk!"

"Daniela-" cautioned Kath.

But Daniela carried on. "At least I plan on being involved in my child's life, unlike you!"

"You're keeping the child?"

"Of course we are!"

"You are in no position to make such a decision."

"It's our child!"

"You know nothing about raising children."

She scoffed. "And you do?"

Everyone who had still been seated were now standing as well.

Erik gritted his teeth. "When I said I wanted to meet your boyfriend, this isn't what I meant."

Daniela only scoffed again.

"But now I don't want to. I know enough."

"What are you talking about?" Daniela demanded.

"I've been doing some research on this Warren-"

"You were spying on us?"

"I felt it my right to investigate my daughter's boyfriend."

"Unbelievable!"

"Especially since you were so against us meeting."

"This is ridiculous-"

"But you-" Now Erik turned to Warren. "I know exactly who you are. Warren Worthington III..."

Now all eyes were on Warren, who winced at Erik's words, though clearly tried to hide it.

"Worthington?" cried Daniela.

"Like, Worthington Worthington?" added Peter. "_That_ Worthington?"

"That's right," continued Erik. "Yes, _that_ Worthington. Son of a father and grandfather of the same name. Avid mutant haters, passed down generation to generation. Your boyfriend is nothing but a spoiled rotten rich playboy with all that wealth and hate to inherit-"

"Not anymore." Warren's hands were clenched into tight fists and his wings twitched. "I was cut off when my father found out I was a mutant."

But Erik ignored him. He was still speaking to his daughter. "Your child's father comes from a long line of avid mutant-haters-"

"I am not my father!" shouted Warren. "Or my grandfather. I'm not that kind of Worthington, trust me. I prefer to not even associate myself with them."

"No, I don't trust you. See Daniela, you didn't really know him."

"No, I do," Daniela spoke firmly. "And I love him, and he loves me, and we both love this child - our child."

"You won't be saying that when the filthy-rich boy abandons you like you're nothing-"

"I would never!"

"That is what you were like though, wasn't it? Such a ladies man and you knew it. You just lapped up all the attention you could get, especially from women. You thought you could have it all."

Warren's jaw tightened. "That was before. Before these." He gestured to his wings. "I was a different person then. And realizing I was a mutant was one of the best things to have happened to me. It changed me as a person, for the better. Got me away from all that."

"But old habits die hard. You're still nothing but an attention-seeking brat."

"Stop it!" cried Daniela. "Don't you dare speak to him like that!"

"Daniela, it's okay," Warren assured her.

"No, it's not. I'm not okay with it and you shouldn't be either."

"The past is in the past. I'm not who I was then. I've changed. And I love your daughter," Warren insisted.

"I can't believe this," sighed Erik.

"Erik," the professor said gently.

Erik turned to him. "How could you let this happen?"

Xavier looked taken aback. "How could _I_?"

"Yes, you're the headmaster around here. What are you allowing within the walls of your school, Charles?"

"Erik, that's enough. What my students do in their personal lives doesn't concern me, as long as they are not doing anything to cause harm to themselves or others."

"Is this not causing harm?!"

"They have my support. They and their child are welcome here under this roof, as I have already expressed to them."

"Yeah, everyone here supports us but you," Daniela told her father.

"I hope you know how disappointed I am."

"Well, disappointment runs strong in this family, then."

"Don't you dare speak to me that way, young lady-"

"Mr. Lehnsherr," Piotr stepped in then. "I think it would be best if you leave now."

"Yeah, get out, just get out. No one wants you here, I certainly don't," Daniela agreed. "I suppose that will be something we have in common, my child and I: life without Erik Lehnsherr."

Erik said nothing more. Instead, he stormed from the library without another glance.

The tense silence deflated like a balloon as soon as he was gone. Daniela collapsed onto the couch and everyone immediately began fussing over her.

"Daniela!"

"Oh my God-"

"Are you okay?"

"Maybe you should sit down."

"Yeah, I feel great." She nodded. "We'll prove him wrong."

_Whew, that was intense! I've been waiting for this moment for a long time!_

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	21. Love in the Air

20\. Love in the Air

Upon ensuring Daniela was all right, all eyes fell upon Warren.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Daniela asked. Her tone was gentle and non-accusatory. She wasn't upset with him not revealing the fact, just curious as to why.

He wouldn't meet her eyes. "How could I?"

"You're not at fault. We can't choose where we come from." _My angry dad just stormed out of the house. _

"I know, but I was ashamed of who I used to be, before my mutation. Your dad was right, I was spoiled rotten, a playboy, a cheat. But like I said, these wings were the best thing that could have happened to me."

"We'll give you two a moment, if you'd like," said Kath.

"Thanks."

The others left the couple. Warren came to sit next to her on the couch, looking extremely guilty.

"Hey-" She cupped his face in her hands. "-I see you no differently. This doesn't change anything."

"-Yela-"

"It doesn't. I promise." She reached out and took his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I'm so sorry about what happened, what he said to you."

"Most of it was true."

"Was not."

"I'm sorry you had to learn about it that way. I should have told you a long time ago. And he said some pretty nasty things to you as well."

"Yeah, well, I don't care." She shrugged.

"I admire that about you. You don't give a damn what other people think. I'm glad our child has you as their mother."

She smiled. "And they're equally lucky to have you as their father. Our child is going to have the confidence to take on the world if they want to. I love you, Warren."

"And I love you, Yela." He reached out and placed a gentle hand over her belly, so he could hold both her and the baby at once. "This is really motivating me to put all that behind me. Our family means everything to me, and I can do better - I will do better, I know I can - for you and the baby."

"I know you can too. For us, and for yourself." She placed her hand on his chest. "Don't forget about you."

* * *

"Peter! If you stole my Led Zeppelin IV album again, I swear-" called Daniela from the library.

There was as gust of wind that whipped past her, signalling Peter's presence, but only for a moment. Said album was now spinning on the player, and said brother was now sitting with his face just inches from the TV set. "Stop stealing it! If you want to borrow it, then just ask." She had saved up to buy that record from work, and it was her current favourite album.

Work was a whole other story now - she would have to explain her situation. She had gotten a note from the school's nurse so she hadn't been back to work since discovering her pregnancy. She hoped they would be as understanding as the professor had been.

On another note, she had two new name ideas: Jimmy for a boy, and Paige for a girl. Warren was a classic rock fan as well, so she figured he would approve of her ideas.

"How about Robert and Plant? Plant could be for a boy or a girl," suggested Peter, now peering over her shoulder.

"Thanks for your help."

"Elton and John, David and Bowie, Freddie and Mercury, Syd and Barrett..."

"You're hilarious."

" Oh, I know, I've got it, got the perfect one. Try and beat this: Axl for a boy, and Rose for a girl. Boom, mic drop. Might as well print out the birth certificate now."

"Thanks for the input, Peter."

"Just going along with the previously-established theme." He zipped over and sprawled out on the empty couch.

"So I noticed."

She had started a list of names so that every time she thought of another one she could mark it down. She already had quite a few though - maybe too many options.

"I thought we were only having one baby," Warren had joked after seeing her extensive name list. It was going to be difficult to narrow it down.

"Oh, good timing, Love," she said when Warren entered the room then.

"I heard Zeppelin, couldn't resist."

"Yes, I'm starting our baby on good music early."

"I'm glad."

"And Peter's named the baby for us."

"Oh?" Warren looked to Peter who was still lounging on the couch.

"You can thank me later."

* * *

"You guys!" In a flash of red, Wanda burst into the kitchen the next morning where her siblings and friends were having breakfast. "Guess what?!"

"What?"

"Carol's starting at the school!" Wanda was glowing - literally, red energy swirled around her - with excitement.

"What school? This school?"

"Peter..."

"Just kidding!"

"That's great, Wanda," said Kath. "When does she start?"

"She's moving in this weekend!"

"Can't wait to meet her." Daniela winked.

"Can't wait for you to meet her." Wanda winked back. "She's out of the hospital now. The Professor went to talk with her and her parents so he must have convinced them to let her enrol. He wants to keep a close eye on her - so far her powers have been unpredictable."

"We know how that feels," said Kath. _She'll fit right in. _

* * *

"She's pretty hot."

"Peter!" Daniela swatted her brother following his remark as soon as he saw Carol.

"What?! I'm just saying. It's true!"

"Well she's already taken," Daniela said, nodding to Wanda.

"Be nice please," Wanda requested.

"Welcome to the School for the Gifted," the professor said, greeting their newest student at the door.

"Thanks! I'm so excited to be here, you have no idea." Carol grinned. "This is a great house, by the way."

"Thank you. The estate has been in my family for generations."

"Cool!"

He led Carol into the house. "You'll have lots of time to get familiar with the mansion. Wanda will show you to your room where you can get settled in. You have all weekend to do so and then you can start classes fresh on Monday."

"Sounds good, thanks Professor."

"My pleasure, Miss Danvers."

"Hi Wanda!"

"Hi Carol!"

"I'm glad to see another familiar face here."

"Yeah, I'm really excited you're here. It's a great place, you're going to love it."

"I'm already loving it."

"These are my sisters, Daniela and Kath," Wanda introduced the twins. Peter had disappeared.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Carol shook both their hands.

"You too, Carol."

"Here, I'll show you your room." Wanda led Carol up the grand staircase. Because of her unpredictable and sudden-onset powers, Carol was given a single dorm room to herself.

"They're so cute!" Daniela gushed.

"Please stay out of it," requested Kath. "No need to meddle."

"It seems like Wanda's got this under control. Aw, there's so much love in the air!" Daniela then placed a hand on her belly. "I'll introduce Carol to Axl or Rose later."

"Those are the names you and Warren decided on?"

Daniela shrugged. "Just trying them out to see."

_Sorry for the delay in updates - I've been trying to finish up some of my older stories! _

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this (late) chapter! :) (and all of my classic rock references! ;)_


	22. All or Nothing

21\. All or Nothing

Kath and Piotr were going out for their first date. Finally, Daniela said.

Neither wanted to venture too far, so Piotr suggested a picnic on the hill overlooking the estate. Kath thought this was perfect.

And it was.

"This is the perfect date," Kath remarked as they sat under a tree in the warm afternoon.

"_Da_, it is," he agreed.

And so for the next few weeks, this was their go-to date. Daniela was always eager for details, and so Kath would always tell her the same thing: they were taking it slow. It was going really well so far.

All until the next training session - that was when the tide of events changed for them.

During the next training session, the group was training with the robots again. Kath was straining hard under the pressure of trying to control and use her powers to take down her robot.

"Don't overexert yourself, Kath," Piotr called from the sidelines where he was monitoring the trainees. "Take it easy." He had been encouraging her the whole time.

_Come on, _she urged herself on. The whole robot was made of metal, for goodness sake, this should be easy. But instead, it was the total opposite.

She moved her hands sideways in one sharp motion, hoping to knock the robot off its feet. However, the robot wasn't knocked off balance as she had intended - but Piotr was.

His feet were thrown out from underneath him and he crashed to the ground, hard.

"Piotr - oh my God!"

Professor McCoy immediately shut down the robots and everyone stopped while he, Kath, and Daniela rushed to the fallen Piotr's side.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry!" Kath was fussing. "That was totally my fault, but I didn't mean to-"

"It is okay, Kath," Pitor assured her. "I know you didn't mean to."

_But I still did it._

"Why don't you go cool off, Kath," Professor McCoy suggested. "Have some water. You look flushed and exhausted."

She nodded, distantly, and headed out of the training room where she began pacing the halls, bottle of water in hand.

"Hey, you okay?" Daniela joined her out in the hall.

"No, not really. How is he?"

"He's fine, just a little startled, maybe a little bruised from the fall. But nothing serious."

"That's good." Kath sighed heavily. "But that's just the thing - I could have seriously hurt him."

"But you didn't," Daniela reminded her.

"I didn't think it would be so difficult for me to take down that stupid robot."

"Kath." The sisters turned to see Piotr standing there.

"Oh Piotr-" She rushed to him. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened-"

"No need to apologize, Kath. Thank you, but I'm fine, really. Please, do not worry."

"Okay but-" She sighed. "I thought I had it."

"You were doing well."

"Was I, though? I barely had any control over it, if any at all."

"I'll leave you two," Daniela said, and was gone back into the training room.

"I kept speaking to you, distracting you - it was my fault-" he said.

"No, no, you weren't distracting me, really. You were helping."

Just once she wished she could feel in control.

* * *

Daniela came and plopped herself down at the kitchen table across from Kath.

"Oh no."

Daniela's face fell. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I know that look - you're scheming up something."

Her sister was back to grinning now. "I sure am, you know me so well, sister dear! A group of us are going to the mutant pub downtown."

"And by a 'group of us' you mean?"

"Well, Warren and I, of course-"

"Of course."

"Wanda, and she's asking Carol to come along. Peter, Kurt, and hopefully you and Piotr."

"I don't know, Yela-"

"Oh, come on, it's the perfect place! All mutants out in the open, no one has to cover up anything, it's great! Come on, it'll cheer you up."

"Okay, fine. If you all are going, then I will too."

"Yay, you won't regret it!"

"Famous last words."

* * *

"Ready to go?" Wanda, sporting her favourite red leather jacket, said, knocking on the door to her sisters' rooms.

"Sure are! Is Carol coming?"

"She sure is! I told her, 'you want to come third and fourth wheel on my sisters' dates?' and she said, 'I sure would.' And then I said, 'Maybe we can make it a date of our own.'"

"Damn Wan, that was smooth, I'm so proud!" gushed Daniela.

"Thanks!"

"And, what did she say?!"

"She said yes!"

"So you have a date?"

"I have a date!"

"Yes! Oh I'm so happy for you!"

"Wow, our little sister sure knows how to handle the romance," Kath remarked.

"Yes, she sure does. Perhaps you could learn a thing or two."

* * *

"See, isn't this place awesome?" Daniela said as the group slid into a booth at the pub.

She did have a point - the pub had an classic, British pub-style feel to it, and was filled with mutants. Kath immediately appreciated the diversity of this place.

"Aww, look they're so cute," Daniela gushed, leaning into Warren as she watched Wanda and Carol sitting up at the counter ordering some pub food. She and Warren sat in the booth across from Kath and Piotr. Peter and Kurt were currently messing with the jukebox.

"Just make up your mind already!" Daniela called to them, making their brother laugh.

The manager of the pub got up on the stage that usually held open-mic nights. He was a mutant with spikes on his head instead of hair. "Excuse me everyone, sorry to interrupt, but I have an important announcement: there's been some Worthington thugs spotted hanging around the area. I don't want to frighten anyone, I just want to keep your safety in mind. Please proceed with caution when leaving. Thank you."

"Shit," mumbled Warren.

"Oh no," cried Kath.

"This is a mutant-only place," Daniela tried to assure them. "So it's unlikely that non-mutants would even know it was here."

Wanda and Carol were now shooting a worried glance over at the booth, while Peter and Kurt were exchanging a glance of their own.

The metal napkin holder on their table began to rattle - oh no.

_I need to calm down._ Kath tried to focus on her breathing. _It's okay, don't worry. Think about what Daniela said..._

"AH!"

Suddenly, before she barely knew what was happening, Piotr gave a pained cry and fell out of their booth, crashing to the floor.

"Piotr!"

He was holding his head. "Ah, my head!"

"Piotr!" Kath had no idea what to do.

The next thing she knew she was jumping out of their booth, flying up the stairs to the upper level seating area and out the door leading onto the roof patio.

She gulped in deep breaths of cool, fresh night air.

"Kath!" Daniela was rushing towards her. "What happened?"

"I got so nervous about the news of the thugs, I started to panic. Then I lost control - again-" But again, had she ever really been in control at all? It sure didn't feel like it. "This was a bad idea, I shouldn't have come. You always push me, Daniela."

"Yes, out of your comfort zone."

"Yes exactly."

"Well then how do you expect to get anything out of life?"

"I don't know!" Kath sighed. "Everything was going so well - too well. I should have known it wouldn't last. Should have known it was only a matter of time before I screwed things up."

"But that's your problem - both of you are always thinking that you are the ones screwing something up, when really, neither of you are."

"Oh, so you call giving my boyfriend a migraine isn't screwing it all up?" she snapped. "You don't understand, not with your perfect relationship."

"Warren and I aren't perfect."

"Well you sure act like you are."

"We're unexpectedly pregnant, need I remind you?"

"Yeah but even that's worked out for you both. And don't forget: you can control your powers. No matter how hard I try, I can't control mine."

"But isn't your love stronger than that?"

"This isn't a fairy tale, Daniela."

"But this is something you're in control over. Maybe not your powers yet, but your relationship with him. You get to choose. This isn't all or nothing, Kath."

"Yes, I do have a choice - and I'm choosing to end things, before someone gets hurt."

_I am so, so sorry for the lack of updates on this story - I've been trying to finish up some older stories. But now I'm back, and I'm planning a sequel to this one set a few years into the future!_

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed as always! :)_


	23. Kath's Decision

22\. Kath's Decision

_I should have known._

Really, she should have.

All along, it had been too good to be true.

The miscommunication working out, learning that Piotr shared her feelings, the first date...

All too good to be true.

Following the incident at the pub, Kath knew she had a problem that seriously needed fixing - _she _needed fixing.

"What can I do for you, Kath?" The professor asked when she knocked on his office door.

"Hi Professor. May I sit?"

"Of course." He gestured to one of the two open chairs before his desk.

She silently sat down.

"I am sensing you're in quite a bit of distress," he noted. "Even without my powers."

She nodded, then proceeded to tell him about the two recent incidents during training and at the pub. The two incidents were so close together, happened one after the other, that it almost felt like a sign.

"Trying to gain control and connection with your powers can be very difficult," he sympathized.

"Yeah, and now it's leading me to hurting people I care about..."

"And that makes it all the more difficult."

"Yeah."

He sat patiently, waiting for her to continue.

"I'd like to get in contact with my dad."

The professor shifted in his chair.

"I don't doubt you or your methods, Professor, but I think I need to work with someone who knows my powers."

"I understand." He nodded. "But I must say, are you sure that's the best idea right now?"

She knew what he meant, what he was referring to: the last time any of them had seen Erik, when he had totally blown up at Daniela after her reveal of the big pregnancy news.

"I know, and I'm still really upset about that, but I need help, serious help, and I think this is my best option - that _he_ is my best option."

"What about your sister?" the professor asked. "I'm not dismissing what you said, just taking a look at all of your options, as I feel you should do as well."

Kath nodded. "Yeah, I thought about that too. But I don't know if Lorna would, and she's even more elusive than Dad. I don't know, for some reason I just feel comfortable asking Dad for help in this."

"Well, he is your father."

"Yeah, but-"

"Yes, I understand," he agreed gently. Erik Lehnsherr was a complicated guy, there was no question about that.

"So I guess what I'm asking is can you contact him? I know he doesn't like it when you get into his head, but it's not like I can just phone the guy."

The professor chuckled. "No, that's true. And yes, he does dislike that, but I think if it's for you, his daughter, he'll understand."

"So you'll do it?"

"I will if you would like me to. And if you're sure."

"I'm sure. At least to initially see - I'll talk to him about it, see what he says, what his approach will be, and then see what I decide."

"That sounds like a good plan. Again, surveying all of your options."

To Kath, in that moment, it didn't really feel like she had that many options, but the professor's words were reassuring.

"I'll reach out to him."

"Thanks, Professor. I really appreciate it."

"Of course, Kath. I'm always here to help."

* * *

She was feeling better about it, feeling like she was on the way to making progress - not making progress just yet, but on the right path towards achieving it.

That was until Dad showed up at the school. Just showed up without any warning.

"What are you doing here?"

"Hello to you too, Katharina. Nice to see you as well, my daughter."

She sighed. "Seriously, Dad."

"You said you needed help."

"You got the professor's message, then?"

"Yes, I did."

"Yeah, and I'm glad, but it wasn't an invitation for you to just show up here."

"I believe I am free to come and visit my children whenever I'd like."

_Whenever's convenient for you, _she thought, sounding like her siblings. Since Erik's treatment of Daniela's pregnancy, Kath had been more and more inclined to take her siblings' opinion on the matter of their father. These thoughts sounded like something Yela, Wanda, or Peter would say, and they wouldn't just keep them to themselves.

"Not after what happened last time. That was uncalled for."

Erik's jaw tightened. "My nineteen-year-old daughter told me she was pregnant by a mutant-hater's son-"

"-Who's a mutant himself!"

"I believe I had every reason to be upset. I'm still very upset about it." He cleared his throat. "But I'm not here about your sister and her pathetic excuse for a boyfriend and their unborn child. I'm here about you and your power problems."

"Huh, 'power problems'. Yeah, thanks."

"Well is that not what it is?"

"Yeah, no it is. And I just wanted to discuss my options with you, I'm not committing to anything just yet."

"Hey!" Oh great - now Peter, Wanda, Daniela, Warren, and Carol had also appeared. Well, Erik had always been good at drawing a crowd.

"You're not welcome here!" Daniela snapped at Erik.

"I believe I am."

"Well not with us you're not."

"And when have you ever wanted to be here before?" said Peter.

Now Erik looked taken aback. "What does that mean?"

"What does it mean? You're never here!"

Erik's jaw tightened. "I sacrificed my life with my children to create a better world for us to live in for the future!"

"If that's what you want to call it!" snapped back Peter.

"But you weren't even there for us!" chimed-in Wanda. "You were never there! Only when it was convenient for you. We should have been priority!"

"And you always were. I was doing this for you."

"No, you were doing it for yourself. And it wasn't fair to us. By doing this 'for us' you were pushing us away, distancing yourself from us, when we should have been working together," added Daniela. "We should have been together as a family, those of us that are left."

"I have always invited you to join me-"

"No, not like that."

They had him trapped in a corner. All - including Erik himself - knew that.

"We all have to make choices. And all my life I've had to make difficult choices. But doing what is right is never easy." With that, Erik headed off, leaving the campus.

Well, like most family meetings - scheduled or unscheduled - that had been a total disaster.

* * *

"What was that all about?!" cried Daniela when the siblings headed back into the mansion. Carol and Warren left them for now, as it was obvious they needed to have a family meeting. "Why was he here?!"

"I asked the professor to contact him - I didn't expect he'd just show up unannounced."

"He's really good at that," Peter reminded her, arms crossed.

"Why? Why did you contact him?"

"Because I want help controlling my powers - _need_ help."

"And so you turned to him? You think he's the best one to turn to?"

"Well, yeah, we have the same powers, and, unlike me, he's in full control of his." Kath sighed. "I'm just sick and tired of living in fear all the time, and feeling like there's something wrong with me. I want to solve this once and for all."

"There's nothing wrong with you, Kath," Wanda assured her, taking her sister's hand. "And it's totally fine to be afraid of your powers. Is this about what happened with Piotr?"

Kath sighed again. "Yes, but not only that. I just want to be in control for once. I mean, if I'm with someone, they are potentially in danger as so much in our world is made of metal, and I could lose control at any time. Piotr is metal himself, so that makes it all the more difficult."

"I'm sorry Kath, that's difficult."

"Yeah.'

"Well I feel betrayed," stated Daniela. "You going behind our backs and contacting our father, after how he treated Warren and I and our child."

"And I'm not condoning that, I thought it was awful too. But I feel like he's the only one who can help me."

"What about Lorna?"

"She'd never come back here. She actively avoids it, and us."

"Well, maybe if you asked her for help," said Wanda. "That would change."

"Maybe. I really don't know what to do. I feel really alone in this."

"But you're not alone," Wanda assured her. "You know how many of us have struggled with our powers."

"Well don't turn to Dad and don't abandon us like Lorna." With that, Daniela stormed out of the room. Kath wouldn't tell her this, but Daniela could be dramatic just like their father.

Great, now she had upset her siblings.

* * *

"I'm sorry about the other day."

"It's not your fault, Professor. I guess we should have expected it from him - just showing up without any notice."

He nodded, but still appeared apologetic.

Kath sat down in the chair across from his desk again.

"So Kath, have you decided?"

"Yes, I have." She took a deep breath. "I'd like you to try and contact my sister."

_Super excited for the next chapter! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	24. It's Time!

23\. It's Time!

_Eight Months Later..._

The baby crib lay in various pieces on the floor, a confused Warren and a very pregnant and equally-confused Daniela standing before the various pieces.

"So this is somehow supposed to become our baby's bed?" said Warren.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Warren sighed. "Well then, I guess we'd better get started-"

There was a _swish! _and in seconds, the crib stood assembled before them, a proud Peter standing beside it.

The crib stood still for barely a moment before crumbling to the floor in a mess of pieces.

"My child is not sleeping in that!" Daniela cried, staring in horror at the pile of crib.

"Yeah, neither would I," Peter admitted.

"Yeah, yeah we can do this," said Warren, looking at the scattering of pieces on the floor, now even more messy than before. "We've got this. We just need the instructions-" He reached into the box and withdrew said instruction manual - but his face fell. "Uh, these are in Spanish..." He flipped them over - nothing. Then he looked inside the box again - nothing, it was empty. "Uh, does anyone here know Spanish?"

"Any Polish instructions?" Daniela asked half-heartedly.

"Afraid not, only Spanish."

"Ugh," she groaned.

"Don't worry, Babe. I know this is a mess but we'll get it, we'll figure it out."

"No Warren - oh oh! Oh God!"

"Daniela?" Warren dropped the instructions and rushed to her side.

"I think - I-I think my water just broke-"

"Holy shit -"

"Ah!"

"Ah, it's okay, Yela, let's get to the hospital." Warren looked to her brother. "Uh, Peter, a little help here."

"Sure thing, man. Here, I'll take you-" Peter stepped towards her, ready to rush her off to the hospital. He took her arm.

"Don't you dare!" she screeched as he was putting on his goggles. "I already feel like I'm about to puke! Kurt! KURT!"

_Poof! _"Daniela, vhat is it? I could hear you yelling all the way from downstairs - oh my God! Oh my God! It's happening! It's happening!"

"Yes, it's happening! I need the hospital - NOW!"

"Right away, of course!" He grabbed her hand, then Warren's. "Uh, who else?"

"Just take us and come back for the others!"

"Oh, okay!"

"Kurt, RIGHT NOW!"

_"Ja!" _In a flash - literally - they were at the hospital. There was a swish beside them and Peter joined them before the reception desk.

"My girlfriend's having our baby!" Warren cried to the woman at the desk.

She looked up from the papers she was reading. "So I see."

There was a moment of confused silence. "So, uh, can you help us?" Warren said. "What do we do?"

"Find another hospital."

"Excuse me?"

"We don't serve you here." She nodded to him, meaning his wings.

Peter scoffed. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Somebody do something!" Daniela wailed. "You're all useless! Ugh, where are my sisters when I need them?! Where are the ladies?!"

"I'm going to need you to stop screaming," said the receptionist. "And I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"She's in freaking labour!" cried Warren.

"Lady, I swear to God-" Daniela smacked her hand down onto the edge of the desk, gripping onto it for support and looking the receptionist dead in the eye. "You get me into a delivery room with a doctor now or I'll burn this fucking place to the ground!"

That did it. The receptionist called on a nurse who took them into a delivery room, leaving the four of them there.

"Kurt, go back to the school and tell the Professor," Warren cried.

"Right on it!" And in a poof, literally, he was gone.

Meanwhile, in the far reaches on the school estate's grounds, Kath stood with Lorna. The younger of the two sisters had her eyes closed.

"Focus," urged Lorna.

"I am.

"Focus."

"I am focusing," Kath assured her.

"Focus...

"I am, or at least I'm trying to, but it's difficult with you being so distracting,"

"Ah ha, but exactly: you must be able to focus even in amongst multiple distractions, and I am only one. Now, next thing: remember, with our power set, almost anything can become your weapon-" Kath cracked one eyelid open to give her sister a displeased glance. "Okay, fine, let me rephrase that-"

"Yes, please do."

"With our powers, and in our modern world, almost anything can be used to your advantage and in your defense. Better?"

"Yes, better."

"Good. I still stand with the weapon thing though, but each to their own I guess."

The two sisters had been training together for just under eight months. Kath and the rest of the siblings were glad to have Lorna back, even if she was uncertain to be staying at the school.

Suddenly, a voice filled Kath's thoughts, breaking her out of her concentrated state. Speaking of distractions...

_Kath, Lorna. _The professor's voice filled her head. _You must come to the entrance hall immediately. Daniela has gone into labour. _

Kath's eyes shot open and she looked at Lorna. "You got that too?"

"Yeah, let's go!"

With that, the two sisters wasted no time in racing back to the school and into the entrance hall, where they found the professor with Kurt, Wanda, Carol, and Piotr.

"Thank you for joining us, ladies," said the professor.

"Where's Daniela?" Kath cried.

"She's at the hospital with Warren and Peter, Kurt already took them. Now let's go." Xavier turned to Kurt. "But before we go to the hospital, there's one stop we have to make."

* * *

"Ugh, where's the goddamn doctor?" Daniela wailed. She was now dressed in a scratchy hospital gown laying on the hospital bed. "I bet that bitchy receptionist just wants me to sit here a suffer!"

"Shh, it's okay, Yela," Warren said gently, holding her hand. "Help with be along soon."

"I hope so! God, I hope so!"

_Poof!_

"Speakingof," cried Peter.

Suddenly, with Kurt's help, the professor, Kath, Wanda, Lorna, Carol, and Piotr appeared in the delivery room. As well as an unfamiliar young man.

"Oh there you are! Where were you?! I need you!"

"We're here, Yela." Kath rushed to her twin's side.

"How are you doing?" Wanda asked.

"Well, the bitch at the reception desk didn't want to give me a doctor or a room, so-" Daniela turned to the unfamiliar man. "Who the hell are you?"

"Dr. Winston, at your service."

"We had to make a quick stop in New Jersey to collect Dr. Winston," the professor explained. "He's a mutant."

"Thank you, Professor," said Warren. "We appreciate that."

"I don't care who he is!" wailed Daniela. "Someone just help me already!"

"Right." Dr. Winston clapped his hands. "Let's do this. Now, which one of you is the father?" Dr. Winston asked, nodding to Peter, Warren, Kurt, and Piotr.

Peter scrunched up his nose. "Eww. Dude, she's my sister."

"I am," Warren jumped in.

"Excellent, nice to meet you."

"Winston, enough chatter, and do what you came here to do!"

"Yes, Miss Maximoff." He looked around. "Now, this delivery room is more crowded than I would like it to be-"

"Winston!"

"Right, we'll just make do, then."

"I'll wait outside," Xavier offered. "Make sure no one comes to cause us any trouble."

"Thank you, Professor," said Kath.

Dr. Winston got everything ready. Poor Daniela was having a rough time.

"It hurts," she cried, tears streaming down her face.

"You're doing great, Sweetie," Wanda said, stroking her sister's hair. "I'll try and take some of the pain away." She waved her hand close to Daniela's head, working her magic - literally. "How's that."

"Better."

"Good."

"Take my hand, Yela," Warren said. "Hold it and squeeze it as hard as you need to - AH! That hurts!"

"That hurts?!"

"Yes!"

"I'm the one trying to push a baby out of my vag!"

"Good point..."

"Yeah, that _is _the point! Wanda, a little more?" Wanda waved her hand again. "Ah, so much better."

"Good, I'm glad."

"All right, Daniela, one more push should do it," informed Dr. Winston.

"I can't!"

"Yes, you can," Kath urged.

"I'm scared."

"Hey, hey, look at me," Warren urged her. "Look at me. You are Daniela Maximoff, the most badass young woman I know. You're fearless."

"No, I'm not."

"Well I've always thought that you are. You can do this, Yela. I'm here with you. Everyone's here with you. We're all here, cheering you on. You can do this, Yela."

Daniela took the encouragement and pushed.

_Whew, that was wild! Lots of drama coming up in the next chapters!_

_Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	25. Welcome!

24\. Welcome!

Moments later the room was filled with a baby's wails.

"It's a girl! It's a girl! You have a little girl!" Dr. Winston announced.

Gasps filled the room as he wrapped the baby up in a blanket and placed her in a stunned Daniela's awaiting arms. Both she and Warren stared down at her, the baby, speechless.

Their baby girl had blonde hair and bright blue eyes like her father, and her mother's warm, deep olive skin.

"This is our baby," Daniela finally said.

"This is our baby," Warren agreed.

Both stared down at the little babbling bundle in Daneila's arms.

"She's really ours," Daniela breathed.

"Yes, she really is. And I love you both, so much."

Daniela looked from her newborn daughter to her boyfriend. "Me too. I love you both. So much." They shared a long, teary-eyed, affectionate look.

There was a moment of silence before they looked up at the happy gathering surrounding them. "Uh, could we maybe, like, you know, have a moment, please?"

"Oh, yeah, of course, we'll get out of here. Come on everyone." Kath waved for the others to follow her out of the room.

"Congrats!"

"Congratulations you two!"

"So happy for you!"

There was a chorus of congratulatory messages from the group as they filed out of the room one by one, leaving Daniela, Warren, and their new daughter, their family, together for the first time.

"That was the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed," Warren told her once the group was gone.

Daniela scoffed. "Oh, come on, it was a mess." She brushed some of the messy hair out of her face as though for emphasis.

"No, I'm serious," he assured her. "That was amazing. I'm sorry it had to hurt so much, though."

"I did hurt, a lot," she agreed, but looked down at their daughter. _Their daughter!_ She could hardly believe it! "But she's definitely worth it all." She leaned against him. "My two angels."

Out in the hall, the others were just as excited.

"We're aunties!" Wanda cried, grasping Kath and Lorna's hands.

"Congrats," Carol said, giving her girlfriend a hug.

"Thanks! This is so exciting!"

"It is," Kath agreed.

A little while later, after spending some time alone with their new daughter, Warren peeked his head out of the room and called the others back in. "We'd like to officially introduce you all to our daughter - we've chosen her name."

"Oh, really?" The others excitedly came back into the room.

Warren took his place sitting next to Daniela's bed, she holding their baby in her arms.

She was smiling widely. "Everyone, we'd like you to meet our daughter: Katherine Magda Worthington. After our moms."

"Aww, that's so sweet!"

"Aww it's perfect!"

"Yeah. We can call her 'Katy' for short." Daniela turned to the professor. "Professor, we were wondering if you could read her mind and see if you can tell what her mutant powers will be."

"Of course." Xavier wheeled himself over to Daneila's bedside. "Hello there, Miss Katherine." He held a hand over her head and concentrated for a moment. "Hmm, I'm not sensing any powers. But perhaps it's too early."

"That's true. Maybe she's like me, and her powers won't show until later," said Warren.

"That's a very sure possibility, Warren," the professor agreed.

"Well, this has been really great, but I'd really better get back to my practice in New Jersey," Dr. Winston piped-up. "I just sort of disappeared from there for a while."

"Of course, Doctor. Kurt, care to do the honours?"

"Right away, Professor!"

"Thank you for everything, Doctor," said Daniela.

"Of course. Congratulations."

"Thank you."

In a poof, he and Kurt were gone.

"Can I hold her?" cried Wanda.

"Of course you can, now that Mummy and Daddy have both had a chance to hold her." Daniela passed Katherine into Wanda's eager, awaiting arms.

"Well hello there Katherine Magda Worthington," Wanda cooed. "I'm your Auntie Wanda! And here's your Auntie Kath, and Auntie Lorna, and Uncle Peter-"

"I'm glad you have so many siblings," Warren whispered to Daniela. "So she'll have lots of extended family."

"Me too. Although they drive me crazy."

"Me next, me next!" Peter cried, zipping over to Wanda's side.

"Peter, please try and stay in one place while holding our daughter," Daniela requested.

"Yeah, right, of course, Sis. No problem," Peter promised as Wanda handed the baby to her twin. And he somehow managed to stay in one spot. "Ah, she's smiling at me!" he gushed. "And she's drooling on me..." This made everyone laugh.

"I'm so tired," Daneila said, following a long yawn as though for emphasis. It was a while later and the others had left her and Warren alone with Katherine again.

"I bet," agreed Warren, who was currently holding Katherine. "You should try and get some rest."

"I know, but I just can't stop looking at her."

"Me neither."

There was a knock at the door then and a smiling nurse entered the room. "Hi there, I'm Sarah, the new nurse on call. I'm here to take your baby to get her weighed. What's her name?"

"Katherine."

"Hi Katherine." Sarah took Katherine from Warren. "We'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay, thanks. Bye Katy, Mummy and Daddy love you!" Daniela called as Sarah carried Katherine out of the room.

"Ah!" Daniela exhaled a heavy breath and slumped back against the pillows, rubbing her hands over her tired face.

"Try to get some rest, Yela," Warren said, kissing her head. "I'll be here when they bring Katherine back, and if you need anything."

"Okay, thanks, Babe."

"Of course."

Daniela was just snuggling beneath the scratchy hospital blanket and trying to get comfy when there came another knock at the door.

Another nurse peeked her head in. "Hi there, I'm Jen, I'm here to take Katherine for her tests."

"Oh hi. Thanks, but another nurse came by and she already took her."

"Oh." Jen seemed both shocked and confused by this. "That's funny, I'm the nurse on call. Who was it, did she say what her name was?"

"Yeah, Sarah."

"Oh." Now Jen's confusion and shock turned into concern. "We don't have a nurse here with that name."

What?

Daniela and Warren exchanged a glance before both turned back to face the nurse. "So who took our daughter then?"

_Yes, the end of this chapter was inspired by Mateo's kidnapping in Jane the Virgin (great show!). And some of the dialogue was borrowed from that episode as well! _

_As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	26. Katherine Magda Worthington

25\. Katherine Magda Worthington

"What does this mean?" Daniela was the first to speak following the shocked silence that followed she and Warren's unanswered question. Suddenly, she didn't feel so exhausted anymore. She felt wide awake now.

"I don't know," Jen admitted. "But don't panic," she quickly added. "I'm going to go speak to management right now, there could have just been a mix up with the shifts. I'll be right back, I promise."

Jen was only gone three minutes total - Daniela watched the clock on the wall. However, it felt like a long, dragging eternity before the nurse finally returned.

As soon as she set foot back in the room, the two new parents turned to her expectantly. "I'm sorry, there's seems to be a lot of confusion. No one knows who this 'Sarah' is."

"But who would she be? What does she want with Katy?" Daniela cried. Her mind was running wild now.

"I've spoken with the others nurses and doctors, and we're all looking out for this Sarah and Katherine. Could you describe this other nurse, please?"

Both parents stuttered out a description, and Jen quickly went to go pass thing along to the other hospital staff.

"Oh my God - what the hell is happening?"

"Don't worry, Yela," Warren said, though it was clear he was trying not to panic as well. "Like Jen said, I'm sure it's just some confusion."

"But if they don't have a nurse here named Sarah, who took Katy?"

Warren said nothing, for he didn't know either. "I'm going to go get the others."

Daniela nodded, agreeing that this was a good next move, but her nod was distant - what the hell was happening?

"Yela, Warren, what's happening?" Wanda asked when a very concerned Warren called them back into the room.

"Katherine's gone - some fake nurse took her."

"What?!"

"Oh my God-"

"Why?"

"What the hell?"

"Exactly!" Daniela cried. Then, suddenly, she sat bolt upright. "Wait, I know who took her."

"You do?"

"Yeah." She looked at her siblings. "Dad."

* * *

"What?" Her brother and sisters just blinked back at her.

"You know how angry he was about my pregnancy, and how against Warren he is."

"Yeah, but-" She did have a point though - Erik had been extremely angered by the whole pregnancy reveal. They just didn't want to believe it. Sure, Erik was known to go to extremes, but would he really go to an extreme such as this?

"Let's split up," Carol cried. "And look for her."

"Someone should stay here in case the nurse comes back."

"Well I'm not going anywhere - I can't go anywhere," Daniela reminded them.

"I'll stay here with you," Warren said.

"Warren, go, find our daughter and bring her back safely. Anyone I don't know comes through that door, I'll torch them."

"Okay - just maybe try not to torch any of the hospital staff."

With that, everyone left the room, splitting up and each taking to a separate wing of the hospital - the very empty wings of the hospital.

"Where are all the staff?" Carol whispered as she and Wanda crept down a strangely silent hallway.

"Good question. It's like a ghost town in here."

Meanwhile, Kath and Lorna were encountering the same strange situation in their assigned wing.

"Where is everyone?"

"It's quiet - too quiet..."

Suddenly, the doors at the end of the hall were thrown open, and three armed guards in all-black attire marched into the hall towards the sisters.

"Dirty mutants!"

"Put your hands up!"

Barely thinking, Kath used her powers to send a metal cart rolling down the hall towards the guards, cutting them off, while she and Lorna took off running down the hall in the opposite direction.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Lorna cried, raising her hand towards Kath for a high-five as they ran. "Anything can be your weapon!" She then used her own powers to slam shut the heavy doors of the wing.

Down a wing on the opposite end of the hospital, Warren and Kurt also had a confrontation with some armed guards. Kurt teleported himself over and over again, knocking down the guards while Warren took down the ones that managed to evade him.

Another group of guards, weapons at the ready, stormed through the doors towards them. They didn't make it far though, for they were knocked off balance and went crashing to the ground hard.

Peter stopped in front of his friends. "There's something really weird going on here."

"_Ja_!" cried Kurt. "Why are there weapons in a hospital? Warren, what are you doing?"

Warren was crouched down before one of the guards laying sprawled out on the floor. "I recognize these guards."

"Really? From where?"

"That's not important right now." Warren jumped to his feet. "What's important is finding my daughter and making sure she's safe. Let's go."

Only it was important, very important - the fear Warren was already feeling due to Katherine's sudden disappearance only increased. They needed to find her, and fast.

Now, anger more than anything fueled him.

Back in the delivery room, Danilea sat in bed, feeling useless. She wanted to be out there searching for her daughter as well, not stuck here, waiting, wondering, and worrying herself sick.

It was strangely quiet outside - usually one could hear footsteps bustling about in the halls, doors opening and closing, and announcements over the speaker system, paging various doctors and nurses.

Something wasn't right.

Managing to stumble out of bed, she crept over to the doorway and peered out. She was met by a quiet, empty hall.

Okay, something definitely wasn't right here.

Despite the pain she was in, she continued to make her way slowly down the hall, searching for signs of anyone present.

That was when she saw him - a tall, lone figure in a long trench coat and a fedora, standing at the opposite end of the hall.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She ignited her fists. "Give her back!"

Erik stepped forward towards her. "Daniela, what-"

"Give my daughter back!"

Erik stopped. "You have a daughter?"

"AH!" Daniela lunged at him. "Ah!" However, she collapsed in pain to the floor.

"Oh, my dear. Let's get you back to your room-" Erik knelt by her side to help her.

She was crying. "Someone took my baby."

"What?"

"Someone took her."

Erik put the pieces together. "And you thought I had something to do with it?"

"I thought - you were so angry about it-"

"Oh, my dear. I'm so sorry. Let's get you back to your room, then we'll find your daughter." He helped her to her feet and she leaned against him as they made their way back to her room.

"Who took her?" she sobbed.

Erik shook his head. "I don't know, but I intend to find out."

* * *

Daniela instantly burst into tears when everyone returned to her room, Warren carrying a bundle in his arms, his wings wrapped closely around their baby.

"Oh Katy!" she cried as Warren placed their daughter in her arms.

"She's safe," he said. "She's not hurt."

"Oh, thank God! Oh, I love you so much, I'm never letting you go ever again!" Daniela cried, holding her baby close.

The Maximoff siblings stopped when they saw Erik. "What are you doing here?"

"I contacted him," the professor piped up. "Felt that he deserved to hear the good news about the birth of his granddaughter."

"But that wasn't really your call to make, was it Professor?" said Lorna.

"It's fine, really," Daniela assured them. "And he had nothing to do with Katy's disappearance."

"So this is her?" Erik looked down at the baby in his daughter's arms. "Hello there, Katherine. How did you come up with Katherine?"

"Warren's mum's name. Her full name is Katherine Magda Worthington."

Erik smiled. "It's lovely."

The group left the parents alone with their child again. Charles found Erik down the hall, away from the group.

"Congratulations, old friend," Charles said. "You're a grandfather."

"Yes, I almost can't believe it. Thank you, Charles. For everything. But especially for supporting my daughter where I would not. I'm nothing but an old fool."

"No," Charles assured him, resting a hand on his arm. "Now you can make it up to her. You want to be apart of your daughter and granddaughter's lives, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. Very much."

They rested their foreheads against each other, Erik cupping Charles's cheek.

Their tender moment was broken when they noticed Peter standing there. He stood there, staring at them, open-mouthed in shock. They stared back silently at each other before Peter dashed away.

"Peter!" Erik cried, but his son was gone.

"So..." They jumped and turned to see Peter standing behind them. "I'm guessing you haven't told anyone yet." The two men shook their heads.

"We've been waiting for the right moment."

Peter nodded.

Back in the delivery room, the family sat snuggled together on the bed.

"It wasn't Dad," Daniela said. "I feel awful accusing him."

"No, it wasn't. I know who did this," Warren said in a low whisper.

"What?" she cried. "Who?"

His jaw tightened. "My father."

_Whew, so much is happening! Only a couple chapters left!_

_As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	27. Love is Love

26\. Love is Love

_What?"_

"I recognized some of the guards. I don't know how he found out, but it was him, I know it was. This is my fault."

"No, Warren."

"Yela-"

"Warren, if you say that, then you're apologizing for being Katy's father, and that's nothing to apologize for. This is not your fault."

Warren sighed, his shoulders drooped, looking down at their daughter and gently stroking her head with his thumb.

"I feel like I've already failed as a parent," she murmured.

"Oh Yela, me too."

"I mean, we literally put her in danger's hands."

"I know, but we had no reason to doubt a nurse here."

"Yeah."

"I'm so sorry, Yela."

"You have nothing to apologize for."

But he did.

* * *

Well, baby Katy had certainly had an eventful first few hours of her life, that was for sure!

"Well, aren't you just the cutest little thing!" Deadpool was standing over Katherine who was in her mother's arms. Katy was staring wide-eyed back at the tall man in the red suit, barely blinking.

"Who invited him?" Daniela whispered to Kath, who shrugged.

"I don't think he was invited..."

"I brought you a little something-" Wade held up a small stuffed unicorn. "Just for you!"

With the family from the hospital now, they were throwing a baby shower at the mansion. All of the students were eager and excited to catch a glimpse of the newest member of the School for the Gifted family.

Since it was for the whole school, the party was large, taking place in the library and stretching out into the hall. A _WELCOME BABY KATHERINE!_ banner had been hung above the archway of the library doors.

"Okay, Daddy's turn!" Warren held out his arms. Katherine babbled excitedly as Daniela handed her over to him.

"He's so sweet with her," Daniela gushed, her heart swelling at the sight of the two. "My sweet little angels."

"I may have had my doubts about him in the beginning," Kath admitted. "But those are all gone now."

"Good, I'm glad."

"Me too. I'm so happy for you, Yela."

"Thanks, Kath. And listen, if you choose to go to Genosha with Dad that's your choice - and I support whatever choice you make."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Kath smiled. "Thanks, Yela."

"Of course, Kath. What kind of sister would I be if I didn't support your decisions? Oh, I'll be right back-" She headed off.

Kath was confused by her sudden disappearance, until she saw Piotr making his way over to her.

"Hello, Kath," he said, giving her one of his kind, warm smiles.

"Hello, Piotr."

"I don't believe I have gotten the chance yet to tell you congratulations about your new neice."

"Yes, it's been a bit of a wild whirlwind. Thank you."

"Is very exciting."

"It is."

"And how has your training with your sister been going?"

"Well thanks. I still have a long way to go, but I'm making some progress at least."

"That's great, glad to hear"

"Yeah, thanks."

"I should go - I saw Wade wandering the house, I want to make sure he's not getting himself into trouble.

She chuckled as he headed off in search of the merc.

Soon, the party guests dispersed and only the Maximoff family was left, including Warren, Carol, and the Professor.

"While we're all together," Erik spoke up. "There's something Charles and I would like to say." Everyone turned their attention to them. The two men reached out and took each other's hands. "We are in love. We have been for a while now, but our conflicting views on Mutant persecution stood in the way. We didn't want to take away from the excitement of Katherine's birth, and today is still her day, but we didn't want to hide it anymore, and seeing as we're all gathered here together, well-" They shared a warm and loving glance. "-We've been waiting for the right moment to tell you, and now we've found it."

Peter smiled knowingly, while everyone else was shocked silent.

"I'm not the only gay one in the family!" cheered Wanda, breaking the shocked silence that followed their declaration. She turned to her new niece. "You see Kathy, I hope you know that you can love whoever you want! Love is love is love!"

"What about Mom?" Lorna asked. "I'm just curious."

"I loved your mother - it wasn't until I met Charles that I realized what I felt, how I felt. But don't get me wrong, I did care deeply for Magda. Please don't be upset."

"Upset? Dad, you're clearly very happy together, which makes us happy," Kath said. "We're glad you found each other and feel open and comfortable enough to express how you feel."

"Yeah, love is love, and I'm glad we've both found ours," Daniela agreed. She smiled at Warren, who was still holding Katy.

Erik smiled as well. "So am I. Thank you, all of you."

A very smiley Katy gave a rather loud babble then.

"I think she's saying congratulations to you and the professor," Daniela said. "Does this mean you'll be moving here?"

Erik looked at Charles. "Eventually, but it will take some time. After all, as you know, I'm often all over the place."

Before the party fully ended, Daniela pulled her father aside. "Since her parents and aunts and uncle are still in school, Katy's going to need someone to look after her... I know you and Kath will be spending some time in Genosha, but maybe when you're back-"

"I would love to."

Her smile stretched further. "I was hoping you'd say that."

* * *

Warren Worthington II left work late. He usually did. He was a man who prided himself on being completely dedicated and committed to his work. And besides, he didn't have a family to return home to after work, not anymore. Now he only had a big, cold, empty house awaiting him.

He left the Worthington Headquarters building, which was located downtown, heading out front to his car parked on the dark street.

As he was unlocking the car, something dark landed before him on top of the car with a sudden _thud! _

"You bastard."

Worthington jumped back, startled, nearly dropping his briefcase.

"You're still the same coward you always were," Warren spat. "I know what you did." He stayed perched on the top of the car - which now had a dent in it due to his landing on it - and spread his wings out to their full extension, trying to look as imposing as possible. "You ever come near my family again, and I'll kill you. I'm serious - mark my words." With that, Warren flapped his wings and took to the skies, disappearing into the night. Angel was gone, and Archangel had shown his face.

_One chapter left - until the sequel!_

_Thank you so much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed! :) See you all in the final chapter!_


	28. New Beginnings

27\. New Beginnings

_Love is Love._

Her sister's words trailing through her mind, Kath quickly dashed out of the library and in search of a certain metal-bodied mutant.

"Piotr-"

"_Da_?"

"Did you manage to find Deadpool?"

Piotr sighed. "_Nyet_. I have no idea where he is or what he is doing."

Kath couldn't help but giggle. Deadpool loved to cause trouble for poor Piotr.

Then she turned serious again. "I want you to know that my feelings for you haven't changed. I know I've grown distant, but I hope your feelings for me haven't changed either?"

He appeared surprised. "Of course not, Kath. I want you to be comfortable."

"And I am, with you. It's just my powers - that's why I'm doing this training, in order to get comfortable with them as well. In order to be completely at peace with myself and love myself, I need to do this, for myself. If that makes sense."

He smiled. "Perfect sense."

"And when I am, more comfortable, you'll be one of the first to know."

He smiled. "I will be looking forward to it."

She smiled back and nodded. "Me too."

* * *

"Bouncy Katy! Bouncy Katy!" Warren was strolling around the nursery, wings outstretched, his very smiley daughter in his arms.

"Bouncy bouncy - ow!" Katy had grabbed hold of one of his feather's in her little fist, and pulled, pulling the feather right out of his wing! The feather was now clutched tightly in her hand.

"Is it someone's nap time?" cooed Daniela, coming over to take Katy to her crib. "Oh, what's that you've got there?"

"She pulled a feather out of my wing!"

"Oh, do you like Daddy's feathers? They're very soft, aren't they." Daniela took Katy from Warren and lay her in her crib, where she was soon sound asleep.

"Yela, look!"

Rushing back to Warren's side, she found a sight which melted her heart:

Katy was lying fast sleep - Warren's feather still clutched in her little fist.

Daniela felt tears pooling in her eyes as she leaned against Warren. "She's so precious."

Warren kissed the side of her head. "Yes, she is."

* * *

"Bye Kathy - give Auntie Kath a hug!" Kath took her new niece into her arms and gave her a gentle squeeze. "You're going to be all right? Remember, with Lorna and I gone, you're the oldest sibling," she said, turning to Daniela.

Daniela turned and smiled at Warren, Wanda, and Peter. "Yeah, we're going to be great."

Kath smiled and nodded - she believed it. Her family would be fine.

"Good luck out there."

"Thanks, I'll be needing it."

"No, you won't. You've got this, Kath."

"Thanks, Yela."

"Anytime." The twins gave each other one last, long hug.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Sis," Daniela agreed.

She was leaving today for Genosha, their father's mutant safe-house on an island off the coast of Africa. Lorna would be coming with her for the beginning, to finish up the training they had been doing together.

"Say 'bye-bye' Katy." Daniela took her daughter's hand and moved it gently as though she were waving. Daniela laughed and waved back.

"Bye Kath! We love you!" called Wanda.

"Good luck out there!" added Peter.

"Thanks you two. Stay out of trouble." This was mostly directed at her brother. Kath gave them both a hug.

Then she turned to Piotr, the last person she had to say goodbye to. "I know this is worth it. I'm doing this so I don't have to feel so nervous about hurting you every time I'm around you. And to be more comfortable with myself, in my own skin."

He nodded in understanding. "And you should be proud of yourself for it, for making that effort. I know we all are."

"Thank you, Piotr."

"Of course, Kath. Safe journey." He wrapped her up in a hug, whispering softly to her, "до свида́ния, люблю." _Goodbye, Love._

With one last wave and call of 'Goodbye!' Katharina Maximoff left the School for the Gifted - for now.

_See you soon. _

**_And there it is, you've reached the end! I wanted to continue the story and jump some years into the future, but I felt it might be abrupt to do so here, so there will be a sequel coming!_**

**_Once again, thank you so much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed this story! See you in the sequel! :)_**


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